Sisters
by caskett.vs.stanathan
Summary: What happens when a teenager shows up at the precinct one afternoon claiming to be Beckett's sister? Pure chaos. But, will this very smart, cheeky, feisty teenager be able to give Castle and Beckett that little push they need? Rating may change
1. Chapter 1

"So, hypothetically, what do you need to talk to her about?" He asks carefully.

I decide to 'hypothetically' tell him. "_Hypothetically_," I emphasise, "I might be here to ask her if she's my sister."

"What? Really?"

"No, not really. _Hypothetically_."

What happens when a teenager shows up at the precinct one afternoon claiming to be Beckett's sister? Pure chaos, that's what. But, will this very smart, cheeky, feisty teenager be able to give Castle and Beckett that little push they need? Oh, and Mini Beckett gets involved with _the_ bets, of course… And starts up the (More Than Three) Casketteers, which will involve a few characters we haven't seen in a while… (Kyra and Maddie … and a certain _actress_ on a certain detective's _list_ that pissed them all off (go figure who)! Yay!)

_**Chapter 1**_

**Disclaimer:** Own none of the regular characters or _Castle_, but I do own Hannah. Wish I owned all of them, but…

"Excuse me?" The teenager asks a passing detective as she steps off the elevator into the 12th Precinct homicide bullpen. "Can I ask where I might find Detective Beckett?"

"Sure. That's her desk there." The small male detective with mouse brown hair and blue eyes points.

"The one with the elephants." The man with him says. The other man is under average height but well built – arm muscles visible through the shirt he's wearing – has tan skin, brown eyes and a shaven head.

"Thank you."

"No problem. She just went into interrogation so just wait at her desk and she should be out in about fifteen minutes." The detective with mouse brown hair says.

"Ok. Thank you both very much. Oh, and can I ask what your names are?"

"I'm Detective Ryan, and he's Esposito." Ryan answers.

"Thanks." The girl turns and begins walking to the desk, but the voice of the dark detective stops her.

"What's your name? Just for future reference. And so Beckett doesn't shoot us."

She turns. "Hannah. My name's Hannah."

"Is there a last name to go with that?" Ryan asks.

"I don't know."

"How do you not know?" Esposito asks.

"I've been in state care for as long as I can remember."

"Oh." Esposito says.

"So how come you're here?" Ryan asks carefully.

"Because, I ummm… Detective Beckett told me to come in if I remembered seeing anything suspicious." She says, remembering the boys said she just went into interrogation, so they must have a case.

"Oh. Ok. Well, we have to go so we'll see you later, maybe." Ryan says before he and Esposito walk into the elevator.

The girl walks over and sits in the chair beside Detective Beckett's desk.

* * *

I sigh as I slowly sit down in the chair beside her desk. I look carefully at the elephants. I pick the smallest one up and slowly, carefully, turn it over in my hands. I reach into my bag and pull out my elephant. It is identical to the small one I found on the Detective's desk. The only difference is that my elephant is slightly smaller.

I let out a breath of relief at this small piece of proof that my wild stab-in-the-dark might be right. I hope it's right.

I put my elephant back in my bag and put Detective Beckett's on her desk along with the four other elephants, all increasing in size.

The elephant, other than my name, is the only thing I have from my birth family.

I see a photo on the desk and pick it up. It is of Detective Beckett, a man with brown hair and piercing blue eyes, a teenage girl with long red hair and the same piercing blue eyes as the man, and an older woman with short red hair and the same blue eyes.

There are five more photo frames spread across the desk: one of Detective Beckett and an older man with grey hair, one of the blue eyed man and the teenager, one of Detective Beckett and the blue eyed man, one of Detective Beckett, the blue eyed man, Detectives Ryan and Esposito, and a shorter woman with dark brown eyes, black hair and tan skin, and one of a younger looking Detective Beckett – no older than 20 – with a woman who looks awfully like her. The woman has green eyes, straight dark brown hair, and the same face shape as Detective Beckett… and me.

I place the picture of Detective Beckett, the blue eyed man and the two read heads down and pick up the one of young Detective Beckett and the woman I'm guessing is her mother.

I look carefully at the two women behind the piece of glass. Same face shape: check. Same skin colour: check. Same wavy hair as Detective Beckett: check. Same hazel green eyes: check.

"Oh my God." I whisper as my suspicions are further confirmed. Now I want to run. I want to stand up and run out of this precinct. I want to run out of this city. I do that a lot. I want something and get so close to getting it, but I chicken out and run. All the time. But I can't do it this time. I can't run from this. I _need_ to know.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" A man's voice says and a hand gently touches my shoulder. I turn and see the blue-eyed man from the photos.

"Yeah," I answer. "Just waiting for Detective Beckett."

"How long have you been here for?" He asks.

"Ummm…" I look down at my watch, "Ten minutes. Make that eleven."

He smiles at my exactness. "Does she know you're here?"

"No. Detectives Ryan and Esposito told me she went into interrogation and should be out in about fifteen minutes. That was eleven and a half minutes ago."

"So she has three and a half minutes left?"

"Exactly." I smile at the man.

"So, how come you're waiting for Beckett?"

"Because I need to talk to her about something. Something personal. I don't know how she'll take it. I don't know how _I'll_ take it if I'm right."

"So, hypothetically, what do you need to talk to her about?" He asks carefully.

I decide to 'hypothetically' tell him. "_Hypothetically_," I emphasise, "I might be here to ask her if she's my sister."

"What? Really?"

"No, not really. _Hypothetically_."

"Oh. Okay. So, hypothetically, would you want me to give her a heads up or just let you tell her?"

"Hypothetically, I would like it if you just pretended we didn't have this conversation. If she's anything like me, she'll freak out when I tell her."

"So, do you actually know that she is your sister?"

"No, I don't. I've been in care since I was three months old. I'm a minor and she's not my parent, so they wouldn't release any of that stuff to me."

"So, do you know that her… your mum is…?"

"Dead?" I ask him.

"Uh…" He fumbles at my bluntness. "Yeah," He nods his head.

"Yes I do." I point to the woman with Detective Beckett in the picture on my lap, "Is that her?"

He nods his head.

"She's beautiful." I whisper, running my index finger over her image.

"Yeah, she is. And so's Kate. I think you'll like her."

"I'm more worried that she won't like me." I admit, having completely forgotten to reiterate that our conversation is completely hypothetical.

He shakes his head. "No, I think she'll freak at first, but then she'll like you. I mean, she absolutely hated me when we first met, but we've been partners for four years."

"So, are you guys going out or something?"

"Uh, that's a _long_ story…" He sits down in the swivel chair in front of the desk.

"I'll have the short version, thanks."

"No, we're not going out. Never have. Probably never will."

"See, how hard was that?"

"Harder than you'll ever know." He whispers.

It suddenly clicks what he said to me: _'never have. Probably never will.'_ Wow, this guy is optimistic.

"I wasn't talking about the words you said, I was talking about compiling it into a short version." I say. "But, how do you know you probably will never go out with her?"

"Because it's Beckett. You wouldn't understand."

"Actually, I probably would. Try me." I challenge.

"Ok. She's stubborn, she's single-minded, she's shut-off, she's private, she's secluded, she gets annoyed easily, she has this wall around her and doesn't let anybody in."

"Okay. I have two points I would like to bring up. Firstly, by look of those pictures, especially that one," I point to the one of just him and Detective Beckett, "It looks like you already got past her wall. And secondly, they were all negative things about her. What are her positives?"

He thinks for a second before quickly answering. "She's funny, she's smart, she's passionate, she's caring, she's friendly, she doesn't judge people, she's beautiful, she trusts me, she understands me, she listens to me. She's extraordinary." He finishes, somehow managing to fit all of that into one breath.

"So, what makes you think you'll never be together?" I smile gently at him.

"She deserves better than me and she knows it." He whispers.

I shake my head. "I don't think so. I think she's scared because she thinks _you_ deserve better than _her_."

Yes, I am talking from experience. But that's history now. Can't go back and change it, no matter how much I wish I could.

"You really think that?" He asks.

I nod my head. "I know that. A: I'm a Beckett. That is actually my last name. B: I've been in this situation before."

"How can you have been in this situation before? You're what? Sixteen?"

"Fifteen next month." I correct. "And you'd be surprised what sort of shit we go through in the system. The fact that we're actually in there shows we've been through some sort of crap that we shouldn't have been through."

He nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Hey, look. I need to go to interrogation now, but if Beckett completely freaks as we both suspect she will, you can come and stay at my house. I have a seventeen year old daughter and I reckon you'll like her."

"That her?" I point to the red headed teenager in one of the photos.

"Yeah." He says, smiling.

"What's her name?" I ask.

"Alexis… Actually, that's something I haven't even asked you. What's your name?"

"Hannah. Hannah Marissa Beckett."

"So your last name is actually Beckett?"

"Yeah." I nod my head. "What's your name?"

"Rick. Rick Castle."

"As in the author?"

"That's the one." He answers. "You've heard of me?"

"I've read all of your books. We're not supposed to read anything with sex scenes in care, but… I've never really been good at following rules. As they say, 'rules are meant to broken'. Besides, your books are addictive… Oh my God! The KB you dedicate the Nikki Heat series to, that's Kate Beckett! Isn't it?"

He nods. "Yeah."

"So, um. The… naughty scenes… between Nikki and Rook…?"

"Purely made up, as much as it pains me to admit. My mother, Alexis and Beckett can all vouch for that."

"Huh." I say, biting my bottom lip. "You have a good imagination." I wink at him.

His jaw drops. "You're fifteen!" He exclaims. "That is so dirty!"

I roll my eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be going in to help Detective Beckett?"

His eyebrows shoot up at how quickly I change from one subject to the next. "I…uh… Yeah. Goodbye." He stutters, standing up and walking away.

My shoulders begin to shake as I silently laugh at the man who's so obviously in love with my sister.

* * *

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chap 2**_

**Disclaimer:** same as always. Don't own _Castle_ or any regular characters, but Hannah's mine.

_"Oh my God! She is totally Beckett's sister! No question about it. They are sisters!"_ I think as I walk away from Hannah and head towards interrogation.

How can an almost fifteen year old be like that? "_I wonder if Beckett was like that at that age…"_

I run through all the similarities in my head: same petite yet strong build, same face shape, same eyes, same little beauty spot on their cheeks, same nose, same smile, same lip-biting, same eye rolls, same stubbornness, same dirtiness, same teasingness (I don't think that's even a word), same… well, same everything, except for hair colour.

I turn and look over my shoulder at Hannah. I see her laughing at me, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders, the loose curls bouncing as she laughs. I glare at her and she shoos me off with a wave of her hand, still laughing.

I shake my head. I have to forget about her for the minute. I can't let anything on to Beckett. Hannah wants me to pretend we never had that conversation. Can I pretend we never had that conversation?

I knock on the metal door of interrogation room 2. Beckett always uses room 2.

The door swings open to reveal my favourite detective. I blink my eyes a few times. Hannah's image in my brain swirling and mixing with the one of Beckett standing in front of me.

Oh my God! They're identical! They're freakin' identical, except for their hair colour. Their hair is even the same length, with the same waves framing their faces.

Beckett clicks her fingers in front of my face. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Got held up by something unexpected."

She steps back so I can enter the room, and I see a teenage boy sitting in the chair.

I raise my eyebrows in a silent question. Beckett sees and turns to the boy.

"So, Robby, can you please run through everything you just told me, for my partner." She says as more of a command than a question.

"I didn't kill him!" The boy says.

"No, that's not what I asked. You've already told me, and it's been recorded, so my partner will hear what you said either way."

"Fine. That dickhead got my girlfriend pregnant." He hisses.

"Thank you. Now how hard was that? This charming young man," She says quietly to me, "Is Robby Youngman. Our vic's twin brother. As you just heard, Joseph got Robby's girlfriend pregnant. She said the baby was Robby's, but he went over it in his head and said they never had unprotected sex. He went to Joseph and Joseph told him that he had unprotected sex with her. So Robby went over to his girlfriend's house and confronted her about it. She broke down and admitted that the baby was Joseph's." Beckett walks to the door and opens it for us to leave, so we can talk without Robby eavesdropping. "So far Robby is our only suspect."

"With jealousy being motive. Well, we've seen people kill for more stupid things."

"Not only that. Robby has a history of anger management problems. He's been in Juvie four times for unwarranted assault. Two of them were against his brother."

"Oh. So, he is a very likely candidate for our murderer."

"Exactly. Now all we need is a confession."

"He's a kid. That should be easy."

She shakes her head. "Actually, this is where it gets tricky. He's been in Juvie four times, which means he's gonna know how cops work. He's gonna know his rights. He won't talk without a lawyer. Kids talk to kids, but nobody else. They're stubborn. He won't admit a thing. I was surprised I got the pregnancy out of him."

"Rewind. You said kids talk to kids." She nods her head. "I have a kid."

"Who's down in the morgue with Lanie."

"Not Alexis." I say. "There's a kid out at your desk. We can use her!" I say excitedly.

"There's a kid at my desk?"

"Yeah. She's here to talk to you."

"There's a _kid_ at my desk." She raises her eyebrows at me.

"Yeah."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Uhhh… No."

She narrows her eyes at me.

"What? She told me to pretend we never had our conversation."

"So you had a whole conversation with her?"

"I…uh…"

* * *

"Who are you?" A stern looking woman comes out of an office. "And why are you sitting at one of my detective's desks?"

"I'm Hannah. I live next to Jo. Detective Beckett told me to come in if I remembered seeing or hearing anything suspicious." I lie quickly, having seen the white murder board near Detective Beckett's desk.

"Hannah who?" The woman narrows her eyes at me.

"Lawson." I say, remembering the surname of one of my foster families.

"Fine. But why are you at Detective Beckett's desk?"

"I…" I don't want to get Ryan and Esposito into trouble by dobbing them in, but I may not have another choice.

"That was us, Sir. We told her to wait there for Beckett." A male's voice comes. I turn my head to see Ryan and Esposito walking towards us. It was Esposito who saved me.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Fine. But it's your responsibility to watch her until Beckett comes out of interrogation." The woman says before going back into her office and slamming the door.

"That was a woman, right?" I ask and they nod. "So, why'd you call her 'Sir'?"

"She's weird about that. I dunno. We have to call her either Captain Gates or Sir. No Ma'am's allowed. She went off at Beckett once when she called her Ma'am." Ryan explains.

"Oh. Thanks, by the way, for saving me. She scares me." I say.

"Join the club." Ryan says.

"So, what's with Detective Beckett and Mr Castle?" I ask them.

"That's something else that's weird and we have absolutely no clue about." Esposito says. "They've been working together for nearly four years, and almost goin out for, like, two and a half."

"They've been so close so many times." Ryan expands.

"Huh. So what's stopped them?"

"Dunno. One of them always makes a stupid mistake or pulls back… Or runs away. But something's changed between them lately. It's like Castle's pulling away from her, and it's always been the other way around." Esposito says.

"Yeah. I know all about running away."

"Really?" Ryan asks, his head cocking to one side.

"Mhm."

"So, has Beckett seen you yet?"

"No. I talked to Mr Castle for about five minutes and then he went to join her in interrogation."

"So, how long have you been waiting here for?" Esposito asks.

I look down at my watch. "Just over half an hour."

"She's been in interrogation for a while. Usually they're twenty minutes, tops. That means she's been in there for about forty minutes." Ryan says, calculating in his head.

"You know," Esposito says, his eyes looking at my face carefully, "You look like someone. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Ryan says, also squinting at my face.

Idiots.

"Oh, really? I wonder who…" I play along.

They both look at me for another 30 seconds or so, before walking over to the whiteboard.

I roll my eyes at them.

"So, Lanie's narrowed Time of Death down to between 2 and 3am on Sunday morning." Esposito says, altering the timeline on the board.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Mini Castle that narrowed it down." Ryan corrects.

"Yeah, only 'cause Lanie asked her to."

"So? Alexis still did the narrowing."

"Boys," I call to them, "Does it really matter _who_ narrowed it down? No. All that matters is that it _has_ been narrowed down." I say diplomatically.

At that moment, Mr Castle and Detective Beckett walk over to us, a stony look on Detective Beckett's face.

I raise an eyebrow at Mr Castle, who shakes his head, assuring me he didn't tell her anything.

Detective Beckett notices our silent communication and begins taking bigger strides towards her desk.

"I'm Detective Beckett." She says when she reaches me, producing her hand.

"I know," I say, clasping her hand. "I'm Hannah."

"I thought…" Ryan begins, but I glare at him and I see Castle shaking his head like crazy, telling the detective to shut up.

"You thought what?" Detective Beckett turns to her colleague, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Nothing." He shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Ryan." She warns him, my hand still clasped in hers. It feels nice. Like I'm part of a family.

"It's just that, I thought you would've finished in interrogation quicker." He recovers.

"Don't ask." She says, turning back to me. "So, you're Hannah…?"

"Hannah Marissa?" I say, not wanting to tell her my name in front of everyone.

Castle begins laughing. Both Detective Beckett and I turn and glare at him.

"Holy shit!" He says, cowering under the strength of our gazes.

"Oh my God." I hear Ryan whisper, presumably to Esposito, "I know who she looks like."

"Yeah," Esposito replies, "And I don't think she's here for the case."

"Nuh-uh." Ryan agrees.

"Hannah, honey, what's your _last_ name?" Detective Beckett turns back to me, a soft look in her eyes. "It's okay if you don't want me to know, but it's always good to know things, right?"

The tears begin falling down my cheeks. I look over at Mr Castle and he nods his head gently at me, urging me on. I nod my head at my sister. "I'll tell you. I'll tell you my last name, but not here. Somewhere private."

* * *

I lead the young girl by the hand to the break room and close the door. I ask her to sit on the couch. She obeys. I then sit beside her and wipe the tears from her face with my thumb.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" I ask her as her shoulders shake with each sob.

"Can I tell you about my life?" She asks quietly.

"Of course."

"I'm not sure why, but my parents didn't want me when I was born. When I was three months old they put me in state care. I don't know where I was between being born and three months old, but I know I wasn't with my parents."

"How do you know that?" I ask her.

"I just do. Anyway, I've been in state care for fourteen years and eight months."

"So you turn fifteen next month?"

She nods her head. "In the time I've been in care I've had a lot of different families foster me out. I've been really difficult for all of them."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to be a part of their family. I wanted to be a part of _my_ family. Not any one else's."

"That's understandable." I say.

She continues. "There was one family though. One family that I really loved. One family that I wanted to be a part of. One family that I _tried_ for. There were two kids and two parents. It was just before my thirteenth birthday when they fostered me out. I really felt like I belonged there. I'd been with them for fourteen and a half months, which was my record. Normally I run away or am so difficult that they put me back in care before I've been with them for six months. But the Lawsons; they were different. I could see myself growing up as a part of their family. They had a five year old daughter and a nine year old son when they fostered me. Rosie and Max. The mum, Jodie, was thirty-five and the dad, Nick, was thirty-six when they got me.

"I had my thirteenth and my fourteenth birthdays with them. I organised a surprise pirate party for Max's tenth birthday. We were so happy. Rosie was adorable. And, if you didn't already know that I wasn't there biological daughter, you never would've guessed. Rosie and I actually looked so much alike. We had the same hair, but hers was a shade or two lighter, and her eyes the purest, brightest green I'd ever seen. And Jodie was so beautiful. Her hair was probably a shade darker than mine, and she had green eyes like Rosie. Max had brown hair and Jodie's green eyes, and Nick had brown hair and brown eyes. They were such an amazing family.

"We were on the way home one night after visiting Jodie's parents. We were going through a T-intersection. We were going straight through. This car came towards us from the joining section of the road and smashed in to the side of the car. Our car was pushed off the road into a tree. The car wrapped around the tree. Max, Nick and Jodie died instantly. I was in the middle backseat, so I didn't get hit at all. Rosie was on the side that the car hit. She was in ICU for nine days. They knew she wouldn't wake up. She had the machines and stuff breathing for her. She was brain dead. I was the one that they asked. I was the one that had to choose whether or not to turn her life-support off. I said yes, and in the end, I was the one that flicked the switch. I literally turned off her life." I begin crying as the girl tells her tragic story. And I thought I'd been to Hell and back. She continues talking:

"So, after finding a family that I wanted to be with, I was back in care and more rebellious than ever. My psychiatrist had all of my information; she had information that _I_ didn't have. She let it slip to me that my birth mother was dead, but in an attempt to calm me when I went crazy over that bit of news, she told me that my father was still alive and I had an older sister. She wouldn't tell me my sister's name, but she told me that she was an amazing woman saving New York, giving a voice to those who had lost theirs. So, I went through every newspaper and magazine I could get my hands on. I scoured the pages, looking for a woman with the same last name as me. I looked for doctors, lawyers, fire-fighters, cops. Anyone. Let me say, it was not easy to find you. My name is Hannah Marissa _Beckett_. I was wondering if you're my sister."

* * *

**Wow, thanks for the reviews. I got 26 alerts for the first chapter! Keep it up! I love it when you click that little blue button!**

**My first chapter wasn't Beta'd, but this one was. So, I'd like to thank my amazing Beta, CastleLover1012. Thanks for your help!**

**I'll update as often as possible!**

**Love you all**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chap 3**_

**Disclaimer:** same again. _Castle_'s not mine, nor are any of the characters seen on the show but Hannah's mine.

* * *

"What?" I whisper. "No. No, that's impossible." I say more strongly.

She shakes her head. "I don't think it is. I've been looking for you for over six months. You are the only Beckett I've found in the newspapers helping people. Actually, you're only the Beckett I've found in the newspapers, period."

"No. My Mum was murdered thirteen years ago. That's impossible. Besides, I would've been seventeen when you were born. I'd remember something like that. I'm an only child. My only siblings were miscarried. And they were both boys. You can't be my sister."

"Where were you between February and the 19th of August in 1997?" She asks me.

"In Paris. I was supposed to be going on the exchange that left in July, but my parents changed me to the February one. But, that doesn't mean anything. I mean…"

"When did you get back?"

"I left on February 17th and got back on the 23rd of August. But…"

"Please, Detective. You haven't had a mother for thirteen years. I haven't had one for fifteen. I just want to know who my family is." She begs.

"I… can I... can I call someone?" I ask her.

She nods her head. "But please don't run away from this, Detective. I always run and I'm sick of it. I bet you are, too. I just need to know."

"I won't run, I promise. I'll be back in ten minutes."

* * *

Beckett quickly leaves the break room, leaving the door open behind her.

She bypasses the elevator and runs up the stairs.

The three men look at each other after their boss passes them, crying.

"You go talk to Hannah, I'll go talk to Beckett." Castle says to Ryan and Esposito, who nod their heads in agreement.

Castle runs after his partner, going up the stairs two at a time.

He stops on each floor, checking to see if she's there. He doesn't find her until he reaches the ninth floor: the gym. He sticks his head in the door and doesn't see her, so he almost keeps going, until he hears her voice.

"No, Dad. Tell me the truth. Is. She. My. Sister?"

He walks through the door and sees her in standing in a corner facing the wall, her back to him. He stays where he is, not close enough to be considered eavesdropping, but close enough that if she turns, she'll know he's there for her.

"Shut up, Dad. I'm sick of the crap. I'm sick of the lies. I want a straight answer: yes or no." She says into her phone. She turns, feeling his gaze on her, and they lock eyes… Until she hears her dad's answer and crumples to the ground.

She throws her phone and sends it flying to the other side of the room, before burying her face in her hands. Castle walks over to her, sliding to the ground beside her.

"Hey, it's okay, Kate." He mumbles, not wanting to touch her in case he oversteps his mark. But she turns her body to his and presses her face into his chest, her hands balling the material of his shirt in her fists. He feels moisture coming through his shirt and realises she is silently crying. That's when he puts his arms around her, pulling her into his lap as she cries. "It's okay baby." He mumbles into her hair, his hands rubbing circles on her back.

She shakes her head against his chest. "They lied to me, Rick. She's my sister and they never told me. When Mum got pregnant they didn't want me to know, so they sent me on an earlier exchange. After the baby was born they gave her to my Aunt to look after for while, then they put her in care when she was three months old."

"Why?" He asks.

"Dunno. I hung up on him before he could explain. I just didn't wanna hear it. I'm sick of him and his excuses."

"Kate, what if they knew that something bad was happening and didn't want an innocent baby involved?"

"That's crap, Rick. If that was the case, what about me? I was innocent. I was only seventeen when she was born. If they wanted to keep her safe, does that mean they didn't care about me because they didn't send me anywhere; they didn't put me in care. If they wanted to keep us both safe, they could've given me the baby and sent me away somewhere. Russia, Australia, France, Italy, England. I could've gone anywhere with her. We could've both had the family that we missed out on."

* * *

A knock sounds on the door and Hannah looks up to see the two male detectives looking at her.

"Hey." Ryan says to her.

"Hey." Hannah answers, a weak, watery smile on her lips.

They walk over and sit on the couch on either side of her.

"You okay?" Esposito asks.

"I'll live." She answers.

"So, are you related to Beckett?" Ryan asks softly.

She shrugs her shoulders and looks down at her hands resting on her lap. "I don't know. I think she's my sister, but she doesn't think that. Or doesn't want to think that. Not that I blame her."

"Why?"

"Well, if some random kid showed up claiming to be your sibling, wouldn't you go into denial?"

"Yeah, I guess I would." Ryan answers.

"Me too." Esposito answers after thinking for a while.

"So, how long have you guys known Detective Beckett for?" She asks them.

"I met her when I joined the Academy. She'd already been there for two years and helped me out a bit. Showed me the ropes." Ryan says.

"I didn't meet her til I got partnered with this loser and got put on her team, what? Six years ago?" Esposito says.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Ryan asks her.

"I think I'm gonna go home with Mr Castle. He said I could stay with him if Detective Beckett flipped. Which she has. Majorly."

"Oh yeah." Esposito says.

"I've never seen her like that and I've known her for almost eleven years. I've only seen her cry once before, when she shot the assassin that killed her – your – mum, without getting any information out of him."

"Why'd she shoot him?"

"'cause he was holding a gun to Castle's head." Esposito answers.

"He really loves her, doesn't he?" Hannah asks. Both boys nod their heads. "And she loves him?" They nod again. "But they're both too blind to see it?" Another nod. "You know what? I have an idea."

* * *

**I know, I know: that was really short. Don't worry, the next one's longer and that may be up later today ;)**

**That awkward moment when you post the next chapter and your Beta PMs you saying you got their name wrong! So I would like to thank and apologise to CastleFan1012 for being my amazing Beta... Sorry ;)**

**And thanks to Reader244 for your amazing reviews xxx You are a lifesaver for being so amazingly nice and liking my story _that_ much!  
**

**And to anyone else who's reviewed, you've made my day, so why not, you know, just go and press the little blue button and make my day today...? ;)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chap 4**_

**Disclaimer:** Don't own _Castle_, characters or shipper names. I do, however, own Hannah and the Casketteers. ;)

* * *

"Hey, boys, what happened?" The shorter woman with black hair from Detective Beckett's photo appears in the doorway with the red-headed teenager. Alexis, I remember.

"Where's my dad and Detective Beckett?" Alexis asks. "And who are you?" She asks me.

"I'm Hannah." I say. "Hannah Beckett."

The woman and Alexis's mouths fall open in surprise.

"As in…daughter?" The woman asks.

"As in sister. I think." I say.

"You think?" Alexis asks me.

"Yeah. I think we're sisters but she doesn't. I asked her and she ran out of here crying." I say.

"Your dad followed her. Was gonna try and calm her down, I think." Esposito explains to the girl.

"Oh. Well, you and Detective Beckett certainly look like sisters. I mean, apart from your hair you're almost…" Alexis says.

"Identical." The woman finishes.

"Um, you're Alexis, right?" I ask the teen.

"Yeah." She nods her head, "But how did you…?"

"I was talking to your dad earlier. He said I could come and stay with you guys if Detective Beckett flipped."

"Which she has." Ryan says.

"Majorly." Esposito finishes, and the two high five each other as they repeat what I said minutes ago.

"Oh. Ok." Alexis says, ignoring the boys.

"But, um, I don't know your name, sorry." I say to the woman, also ignoring them.

"Lanie. I'm the Medical Examiner on Kate's team."

"And I'm the M.E in training." Alexis grins at me. I smile back at her shyly.

"So, what were you thinking before these two showed up?" Ryan asks me.

"Do you like Detective Beckett?" I ask Alexis.

"Um, except for the fact that she's been jerking my dad around, I guess."

"How do you mean, jerking him around?" I ask.

"Playing him. Stringing him along. Etcetera, etcetera."

"Oh," I say, my grand plan already falling apart. "So, you wouldn't want them to get together?"

"I don't know. I'm not gonna say no, because he changed for the better when he started working with her. But now she's gone and done something to him and he's back to being his old playboy self. If she could bring back the Richard Castle that was here a month ago, then yeah, I'd love for them to be together."

"You think she's been playing him and stringing him along?" Lanie asks Alexis, clearly knowing something.

"What do you know?" Esposito asks her.

"She's told you something, hasn't she?" Ryan adds, the two boys ganging up on the M.E.

"Yes, but I am not at liberty to tell either of you anything. She told me these things in confidence and I will not break her trust."

"Look, I was thinking that we can give them a little nudge. Push them in the right direction. She doesn't have to know that we know. You don't even have to tell us anything… but it would be helpful." I turn to Esposito. "You said something weird's been going on between them."

"Yeah. It started during the bomb case. Like I said before, it's like he's pulling away from her. Almost like he's done waiting."

"You're his daughter. Surely you'd know something?" I turn to Alexis.

"No," She shakes her head, "I've tried asking him about it but he just says I wouldn't understand. And I've tried asking Grams if she knows anything but… Oh my God!"

"What?" Lanie, Ryan, Esposito and I all ask at the same time.

"But she's been even more closed off about it than him, saying he'll tell me if he wants to. She totally knows what's going on! He's told her!"

"Does she live with you guys?" I ask.

"Yeah, Martha Rodgers. She's Dad's mum."

"Okay, is there anybody else who might be able to help us bring them together? Anybody who knows either of them enough?"

"Maddie!" Lanie says automatically. "She was Kate's best friend all through high school. She was involved in a case once. They still talk sometimes and Maddie knows everything that's ever happened to her."

"And Kyra!" Alexis says. "Dad's first love. The only other KB that ever meant anything to him."

"And Natalie Rhodes." Ryan says.

Esposito, Lanie and Alexis all raise their eyebrows at him, while I just stare at him cluelessly. "Isn't she the actress playing Nikki Heat in the movie?" I ask.

"Yeah." Ryan answers. "And I'm serious. Remember how she freaked us all out, including Beckett, by how well she knew Beckett? I heard her talking to Beckett one morning. She said: 'Is Castle gay?' And Beckett spewed up her coffee and said 'no! Why?' And Natalie said 'because I asked him to come home with me last night and he said something nobody's ever said to me before…No!' And then she waffled on some crap and said that if he wasn't gay then they must've been in some secret relationship or something and could Beckett give him permission to sleep with her… As in Natalie."

"What'd Beckett say?" Esposito asks, enthralled.

He's not the only one; we're all listening to Ryan's story intently.

"She said 'I have to go… Over there' and walked off, really freaked out by the whole thing."

"And Natalie wouldn't stop copying her! And she told Beckett why she did all the things she did. Beckett didn't even know half the crap Natalie told her about herself!" Esposito adds.

"Okay… So…" I begin but stop talking as I see Mr Castle and Detective Beckett walking towards the break room. "Meeting tonight." I say quickly, just as the duo reach the door.

* * *

"Um, Hannah, can I please talk to you for a minute?" I ask the girl.

"Yeah, sure." She says, looking at the group around her, which now consists of the boys and Lanie and Alexis.

"Alone." I look at my friends and they all file out of the room. Castle nods at me and shuts the door. "So, um, I called my Dad…our Dad. It turns out you are my sister."

"Really?" She asks, looking at me. It is then that I realise how much she looks like me. We could almost be identical, except for the fact that her hair is blonde, and she's a bit shorter than me.

"Yeah, really." I nod my head.

She swallows visibly and falls onto the couch before burying her face in her hands. I hear her crying.

I walk over to the couch and sit beside her.

"You okay?" I ask her.

She shakes her head, keeping her face hidden in her hands. "For so long I've wanted to know who my family was. But you didn't even know about me, so they obviously didn't want me at all. And now you don't want me either." She sobs, her voice coming out muffled because of her hands.

"No, baby." I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me. "I don't know why Mum and Dad put you in the system, but it's not that I don't want you. It just kinda took me by surprise. That's all. You're my family, and you're stuck with me, whether you like it or not."

"Really?" She asks, peeking up at me from between her fingers, her eyes sparkling from the tears.

"Really." I say and pull her tighter against me.

She removes her face from her hands and wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me back. However, she doesn't keep her face visible, instead hiding it in the crook of my neck. "You know, Detective Beckett, this feels good. I feel like I'm part of a family, now." I hear her whisper.

"Yeah, I know. Me too. But you're gonna have to stop calling me Detective Beckett and start calling me Kate, you realise?"

She chuckles and pulls back. "So, Kate, if you don't want me to stay at your place tonight, Mr Castle said I could stay with him and Alexis."

"Oh, did he? Well, I don't think that will be necessary. But we're going to have dinner at their loft tonight, anyway, so I can talk to our father about you. And that way you can meet him and Martha at the same time."

"Oh, um. What time will dinner be?" She asks me.

"Between seven and seven thirty. Why?"

"Uh, Lanie, Alexis and I were planning on having a meeting of sorts to get to know one another. That was scheduled for five. Alexis and I should be there for dinner, though. I'm sure our talk with Lanie won't go for more than two hours."

"Oh. Ok. I suppose that's ok. But why wasn't I invited?"

"Lanie said something about how if you were there alcohol would have to be involved, and Alexis and I are both underage."

"Oh, I see."

"So, will that be okay?"

"I don't see why not, as long as you and Alexis are back by seven thirty."

"We will be, I promise. Thank you so much!" Hannah throws her arms around me in a hug. The sort of hug I haven't been involved in since Mum died.

* * *

The three women… or one woman and two almost-women, sit on the couch, eyes flicking between the two male detectives as they say name ideas in rapid fire, and quickly shoot each other's ideas down in flames.

"Caskett!" Esposito says.

"Nah, that's stupid. It's like we're condemning this idea and their relationship before it's even begun. Kick!" Ryan says.

"That's pathetic! It sounds like something you'd call an unborn baby."

"Fine, then. Rackett."

"Na, they're not part of a tennis match!"

"But they cause a big racket!"

"No… Rate!"

"They're not money… or anything to do with numbers, actually. What about…"

Lanie, Hannah and Alexis all look at each other. Alexis opens her mouth, planning on stopping their argument, but Lanie raises her hand and silences her.

"Honey, you may as well just let them get this over with, otherwise they'll keep going all night."

So the three women continue watching for another good ten minutes or so, before Hannah gets over it.

"Okay, guys, shut up!" She says in a commanding voice that sounds an awful lot like Beckett. They boys – and Lanie – snap to attention immediately. "Okay, we'll do a vote. There are three options. One: Team Caskett. I don't care if it's condemning them, if sounds cool. Two: Team Rackett. Again, it sounds pretty goddamn cool. Or I have a slightly more imaginative one: The Casketteers. Like The Three Musketeers, but Casketteers."

"I like Casketteers." Lanie says.

"Yeah me too. That's really cool." Alexis agrees.

Both boys scowl, annoyed that their ideas aren't wanted.

Suddenly they hear a knock on the door.

Hannah and Esposito look up, surprised. The other three all have guilty expressions on their faces.

Lanie quickly stands up and goes to the door. She opens and finds not only Kyra and Maddie – both of whom she had invited – but also Martha and Jenny.

The look on Martha's face as her eyes flick between Maddie, Kyra and Jenny is priceless.

"… and Lanie called me too, asking if I'd help in their scheme as well." Maddie says.

Lanie's mouth falls open in horror at the sight of Castle's mother. If it was just Jenny, she could deal with that. But _Martha_? This will _not_ end well.

"So, since when was my granddaughter trying to get my son and Detective Beckett together?" Martha asks, her eyes flicking to Lanie.

"Uhhh…"

"Oh. Sorry. We thought she already knew." Kyra apologises.

"Ah. No, she didn't. And… Why are you here?" Her eyes flick to Jenny.

"Kevin asked me to come. I didn't think I'd be able to though, as I was supposed to have a meeting, but it was cancelled." The woman explains.

"Oh. Okay. Um, well… Come in, I guess." Lanie stands to the side, allowing the four women to enter her apartment.

"Grams!" Alexis says, as soon as everyone is in the same room. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before, but I didn't know how else to get you over here. I knew you wouldn't come if I told you straight out what we planning. I mean, you usually would, but you've been being really weird lately. I'm sorry. Please don't be angry with me." She begs.

"I'm not angry with you, kiddo. I'm more annoyed that the Prom Queen, Cheerleader and Perfect Wife upstaged my Grande Entrance." The woman says, indicating to Kyra, Maddie and Jenny.

Ryan goes over to Jenny and kisses her softly on the lips. "I thought you couldn't come?"

"My meeting was cancelled."

"Ahhh…" Hannah starts, feeling slightly out of the loop. "Help!" She hisses at Alexis.

"Okay, guys. Everyone grab a seat." Alexis says. "I think some introductions are in order."

"I agree." Maddie says, looking at Hannah, "Why do you look so much like Becks?"

"That's why the introductions are needed." Alexis sighs, exasperated. "Lanie, do you wanna do the honours?"

"Yeah, sure. Okay guys. Blondie over there is Maddie, Kate's best friend. Miss-Diva is Martha, Castle's mum. Clearly the one on Ryan's lap is Jenny, his wife. Ummm and this..." Lanie points to Hannah. "Is Hannah Marissa Beckett. She's Kate's sister."

* * *

I promised it'd be up by this afternoon and here it is! Hope it's okay... Tell me if it's not, please... But also tell me if it is ;)

Thank you to my Beta and anyone who's reviewed. Makes my day. Feel free to press the blue button and put a smile on my face :) I've been overwhelmed by the amount of alert emails I've been getting, so keep it up!

Next chapter should be up on Monday.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chap 5**_

**Hey guys, I know I said this would be up yesterday, and it would've been had I not temporarily misplaced my USB. **

**Is anyone else dying waiting for **_**Always**_**? Yes, that is a rhetorical question; I know that most of you are. Hopefully this'll tie you over until it airs. And to those who, like me, don't live in America and have to wait extra long… Well, let's just say I have a best friend called YouTube: I'll share with you, if you say please ;)**

**Disclaimer:** Own no one but Hannah… I guess that'll have to do me – for now.

* * *

"Her… sister?" The blonde woman asks, looking me up and down.

"Yeah." I nod my head, biting my lip nervously.

"How's that even possible? I mean, how old are you?" Maddie asks.

"Almost fifteen."

"So, Becks would've been… 17 when you were born? She would've told me!"

"Yeah, she would've – if she'd known that Hannah existed." Esposito says.

"What?" Kyra asks. "What do you mean 'if she'd known'? How could she not know?"

"That's a _long_ story." Ryan says.

"Short version." Maddie and Kyra say in unison.

"Our parents sent her on an earlier exchange when they found out about me. When I was a few months old they put me in state care and never told Kate about me."

"See, how hard was that?" Maddie asks Ryan.

"It's a guy thing. They can't compile things." Jenny says.

"Yeah, Mr Castle had the same problem earlier when he was talking to me." I say.

"Okay, so, you're Kate's sister." Kyra says. "But why are you here?"

"Because I want a family. A happy family. And right now, Kate's not happy."

"So, it was you that wanted us to come over?" Maddie says.

"Not exactly. I had the idea of getting them together. Lanie said you should come." I say to Maddie. "And Alexis said you should come." I say to Kyra.

"Oh. Okay. So, how is this gonna work? And what are we calling ourselves?"

"Ummm, we're not sure how this is gonna work, but we're calling ourselves the Casketteers." I say.

"That's pretty cool." Kyra says, nodding her head.

"Pretty cool? It's amazing!" Jenny exclaims. "Who came up with it?"

"Uh, I did." I say.

"Huh. It's really clever. Good job." She says to me.

"Thanks." I smile at her.

"Oh my God! I know who else we forgot!" Lanie exclaims.

"Who?" I ask.

"Who knows Kate better than all of us here put together?" She asks everyone.

"Jim!" Lanie, Alexis and Maddie all ay at the same time.

"Bro, how did we miss him?" Esposito asks Ryan.

"Beats me." Ryan shrugs his shoulders.

"So, what do we now?" Maddie asks.

"Now we start plotting." Lanie says.

"Before we start: Martha, do you mind us doing this?" I ask the woman.

"Ohhh," She sighs, dramatically, "I really should put an end to it. But if this works and he ends up happy… What more can I ask for? However, if this blows up in our faces, I'm blaming you two." She points at Lanie and me. "I will not take responsibility for any poor choices this group makes, and nor will Alexis." She looks up to the ceiling. "Dear lord, please help me. Richard will kill me if he finds out… But I'm in."

"Good. Now, let's get down to business. You three need to be back at the loft in under 2 hours." Lanie says.

"So, does anyone have any ideas?" Kyra asks.

"I know! It's Dad's birthday in three weeks. We can organise a party and make something happen there." Alexis says.

"That's a good start. But what are we gonna make happen?" Lanie asks.

"Well, we could have romantic music on or something. Or normal music where the lyrics are _them_…?" She suggests.

"I know! How about we hold a fundraiser to support a charity. We can have raffle tickets on sale. The winner wins a tango or salsa dance or something with Richard. But we'll all enter Kate's name. A lot. And even if the one we pull out isn't hers, we'll say it is." Martha says, quickly becoming excited, despite her earlier qualms.

"That's brilliant!" Kyra says. "But we'll need to make sure Kate gets a ticket for herself, otherwise she'll get suspicious if she wins but she never bought a ticket."

"This is all well and good, guys. But how are we gonna pull it off? I mean… She's a detective, and he seems pretty smart too. Are you sure they won't figure that something's up?" I ask.

"My dear," Martha starts, "I can be very inconspicuous when I choose to be."

"I'd like to see that." Esposito says under his breath… Or, he thinks it's under his breath.

"You little cheek!" Martha narrows her eyes at him.

"What?" Esposito asks innocently.

"Guys." Lanie warns. "We're here for a reason. Martha, calm down; Javi, behave."

"Bee hive!" Alexis and I say t the same time, and immediately burst out laughing.

"Girls. Focus." Lanie commands us.

"Yes Ma'am." Alexis says.

"Or would you rather be called 'Sir', like the scary boss?" I ask.

Ryan and Esposito start laughing, while Lanie glares at me and says, "No. I'm fine with Ma'am."

"Ok. So, a birthday party. Now we just to organise the actual party." Kyra says.

* * *

The three women get out of the taxi and walk into the building.

"Good evening, Brighton." Martha says to the young doorman.

"Evening, Mrs Rodgers." He nods. "Miss Castle. And…?"

"Hannah Beckett." Hannah introduces herself.

"Miss Beckett. Any relation to the Detective Beckett upstairs?"

"Sister."

"Well, have a wonderful evening, women." He says.

"Thank you." Alexis says, before leading the way to the elevator.

They step off the elevator when it dings and the doors slide open.

Martha unlocks the door and the three enter the loft.

"You're just in time, girls." Castle calls from the kitchen. "It's 7.28. We were about to call Lanie." Castle and Beckett appear in front of them. "M-Mother. Why did you get back with them?" He asks, surprised that all three arrived together.

"I had a class. It only just finished."

"We were coming in and saw Grams in the elevator and called out to her." Alexis expands, using the cover story that they had devised in the taxi.

"So, how was it at Lanie's?" Beckett asks.

"It was good. We had a lot of fun." Hannah says happily.

"That's good." Beckett says, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the blonde.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Where's Jim?" Alexis pipes up.

"In the bathroom." Castle says. "He should be back s–"

Hannah gasps as she sees the man coming down the stairs, talking. "Katie, aren't they supposed to be here? I thought they were only at Lanie's until–"

"Dad. They _are_ back."

Hannah stands, frozen to the spot, unable to breathe. She finally manages to whisper, "Dad," before she runs. She runs out of the loft as though it's a matter of life and death.

* * *

**I know, that was pretty short but I had to finish it there 'cause I got Writer's Block :(**

**Thanks to those who reviewed or PM'd me; Reader244 and hug-me, especially. And to purplangel: thank you or what you said to me about school and life in general… and for letting me join your rare OCD group ;)**

**Thanks to my Beta, who didn't actually Beta this chapter but is still amazing anyway.**

**Oh, and Knight 12167… I know who you are (BG). So subtle of you: "You should write fics for _Merlin_ instead". If that didn't give you away, I don't know what would've ;)**

**And if anyone saw the review by poobagmckenzie, don't worry about it. It was one of my 'friends' being a jerk. He thinks he's funny. And sometimes he is. But sometimes (that review!) he's not. LP, if you do that again, **_**you're dead!**_

**Hope it's okay. If you have any ideas (and I mean **_**any**_**) about why Jim and Johanna may have kept Hannah hidden from Beckett, please tell me, 'cause I'm kinda stuck on that at the moment.**

**Anyways, if I have an epiphany or someone helps me, the next chapter should be up by Friday… But that's only if I have a lightbulb moment, so don't hold your breath, guys ;)**

**Until then, just keep hitting the little blue button below.**

**Til death do them part,**

**c.v.s**

**That was a really long author's note… Guess I just needed to vent. It was shorter until poobagmckenzie reviewed and annoyed me.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chap 6**_

**I guess this is AU now, for those that have seen **_**Always**_**.**

**Disclaimer:** Same as before. Own absolutely nada.

* * *

"Hannah!" Beckett yells and starts running after the girl.

I grab her wrist, stopping her. "Let me go. We talked earlier. I'm a dad, she might listen to me." Kate's eyes look between me and her father frantically, clearly wanting to go herself. "Trust me, Kate." I whisper.

She nods her head. "Okay."

I let go of her wrist and run out the door of the loft. I see the elevator doors closing at the end of the hallway. I run down the hall and decide to take the stairs. I bound down them two at a time, almost falling multiple times, but ploughing ahead anyway. I know that if I go back without Hannah, Beckett will never forgive me. I exit the stairs and look around wildly. I see a blonde head through the street doors. I run to the doors and say to Brighton as I pass him, "If they come down, tell them I'm following her and should be back soon!"

The 23 year old man looks at me in confusion, but I clearly have no time to explain.

I fly through the doors and they swing shut behind me as I turn right, following Hannah.

"Hannah!" I yell as I run down the street. I see her head through the throng of people, blonde hair flying out behind her. "Hannah!" I yell again, louder this time.

I receive many strange stares from people, but ignore them all. I grin as I notice the gap between the girl and I shrinking. I'll have to tell Beckett sometime that following her around has really improved my fitness.

She turns another corner just as I reach her. "Hannah," I say more quietly as I reach out and put my hand on her shoulder.

She turns to look at me, and I see her beautiful gold-green eyes are red rimmed and puffy, and she's out of breath from all the running, crying, or both.

I hear a sob escape her mouth and my heart breaks for the little girl standing in front of me. I open my arms, giving her the choice of whether she wants a hug or not. She immediately falls into my arms and burries hr face in my chest. "I thought I… but… couldn't… It was d-different… need to run with her… did with him." I hear her say into my shirt in between sobs. It doesn't make much sense, but I rub her back and try to soothe her anyway.

"You smell like peaches." I mumble. What is it with the Beckett girls and smelling like fruit?

Eventually she pulls away and wipes her eyes before looking up at me. "Wh-why did you come? Where's K-Kate?" She sniffles.

"She was going to come, but I told her I'd come instead."

"Oh." She nods her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't've run out like that. I just… I thought I could handle it. But I couldn't. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's fine. I would ask Jim to leave, but I don't think that's really very fair on him, is it?" She shakes her head. "Do you wanna go back now or go for a quick walk?"

"Can we walk for a bit?" She asks quietly.

"Sure." I hold my arm out for her and – after a second – she slides her arm into mine.

Again, I marvel at the similarities between her and Kate.

* * *

Kate paces the loft.

Jim stands at the bottom of the stairs in shock.

Alexis stands in the doorway, looking down the hall.

Martha goes into the kitchen and pours them all a glass of wine.

"Don't tell your father." She says to Alexis when she hands the girl a glass.

"Will she be okay?" Alexis asks, looking over her shoulder at Kate.

"I don't know." Kate answers honestly. "I think she'll be fine if your dad catches up to her."

Alexis nods her head slowly. "I've noticed she's a lot like you."

"Yeah," Kate chuckles, "Me too. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, though."

She thinks back to earlier in the day, when she had asked Hannah if she could talk to Robby.

* * *

"_Sure." She said. "What do I do?"_

"_Just be nice to him, and try to get a confession out of him." Kate had answered, putting the small microphone on Hannah's top._

_When she was all wired up, Hannah had gone into the break room, where Robby was already sitting on the couch with Ryan standing at the coffee machine._

"_Thanks, Ryan. I'll be fine." The girl had said, and the Irish detective had left the room._

"_So, they sent in a kid to try and get me to talk?" Robby had asked._

"_Kinda. Look, I don't care what happened to your brother. I don't care whether you did kill him or not. I just want to talk to you. Okay?"_

_He had sat in silence for a few minutes before nodding his head._

"_You're Robby, right? I'm Hannah." She'd introduced herself. "How old are you?"_

"_Seventeen." He answered._

"_I'm fifteen… Almost." They sat in silence for a while before she continued."Did you and Joseph still live together?"_

"_Yes. We still both live with our parents."_

"_Who was the favourite? I mean, there's always a favourite child. The parents say there's not, but there is and we can tell."_

"_Jo. It was always Jo. He always got what he wanted, because he was the good one. He didn't have problems. He was easy."_

"_Yeah," Hannah had nodded her head in agreement._

"_So, do you have any siblings?"_

"_Uh… I've been in state care since I was a baby, so I've had a lot of siblings. Detective Beckett…"_

"_The hot one that was yelling at me before?"_

"_Yeah, that one. She's my biological sister. And she was clearly the favourite 'cause she got to stay with our parents and I got dumped."_

"_That's not fair on you."_

_She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess not. I always used to think that. But, I think seeing her… I don't know. I think it showed me that it wasn't fair on either of us."_

"_Yeah, I s'pose."_

"_What sort of music do you listen to?"_

"_Uhhh…" The unexpected question had caught Robby off-guard. It had also surprised the three detectives and writer listening to their conversation._

* * *

"_What's she doing?" Esposito had asked, shocked._

_Beckett smiled softly. "She's getting to know him."_

* * *

"_Whatever, I guess." Robby had answered after a minute._

"_Come on. You can do better than that. Okay, I'll start. I have five favourites. My first one's Taylor Swift. Now you go."_

"_Coldplay?" Robby had answered sounding more like a question than an answer._

"_I also like Hot Chelle Rae."_

"_Green Day."_

"_Delta Goodrem."_

"_Powderfinger."_

"_One Direction."_

"_All American Rejects."_

"_Kelly Clarkson."_

_Robby had thought for a moment before saying. "I'm out."_

_Both teenagers had started laughing._

* * *

_The adults sat around Beckett's desk, looking at each other, stunned, as they watched Beckett 2.0 making friends with a possible murderer._

* * *

"_Ok, then. Favourite TV shows. You can start this time."  
_

_"__**South Park**__."_

"_**Bones**__."_

"_**NCIS**__."_

"_**Merlin**__."_

"_Uhhhh… __**Hawaii Five-O**__."_

"_**The Mentalist**__."_

"_I'm out."_

"_Yeah, me too. Favourite movies. __**I Am Number 4**__."_

"_That's a pretty good movie. __**The Green Lantern**__."_

"_I love that movie so much! Um, __**X-Men**__."_

"_**Batman**__."_

"_**Elektra**__!"_

* * *

_Castle and Beckett looked at each other and burst out laughing, remembering their conversation about which superhero they'd be._

"_What's so funny? I don't get it!" Ryan said._

"_Me neither, bro." Esposito had replied._

* * *

"_Favourite actor or actress. Stana Katic. She was a French vampire in __**The Librarian 3**__." Hannah had said._

"_Ummm. Nathan Fillion. He was in __**Serenity**__. He's pretty funny."_

"_Molly Quinn. I think she would've been perfect to play Foxface in __**The Hunger Games**__."_

"_The girls that play Sarah and Number 6 in __**I Am Number 4**__."_

"_They're names are Dianna Agron and Teresa Palmer. Teresa's actually Australian; she didn't just put on the accent for the movie."_

"_That's pretty cool. I didn't know that. They're both so hot!"_

"_No they're not! They're really, really pretty. Dianna has eyes like mine. Her and Stana Katic are the only celebrities I know with eyes like that."_

"_Got any other favourites?"_

"_Yes, Alex Pettyfer and Callan McAuliffe from __**I Am Number 4**__. Now they are hot! And Callan's only 16!"_

"_Whatever."_

"_Okay, next question. Why'd you kill your brother?"_

"_I didn't mean to." He mumbled without hesitation, then looked up at the girl in surprise when she realised what he'd just said._

* * *

"_Oh my God." Castle had said as he saw the boy confess on Beckett's computer. "She made him comfortable enough that he wouldn't know what he was saying until after he'd said it! That's really clever!"_

* * *

"_I'm sorry. Look, talk to me and I'll come and visit you. And I'm sure Detective Beckett can lessen your sentence. You shouldn't get as much time if you plead man slaughter instead of murder."_

"_You'll really visit me?" He asked her._

"_I promise."_

_Robby gulped. "Okay. I- I was so angry with him. I'd just talked to Rach and she'd told me that the baby was his and I… God. I called him and asked him to come meet me. We got into it and I pushed him and he fell and hit his head against something. I don't even know what it was. It was so dark. And there was so much blood and he was so still. I just…" He chokes up, unable to continue._

"_Hey, it's okay." Hannah reached out grabbed Robby's hand, but he pulled it away roughly._

* * *

_Ryan and Esposito stood up when Robby started getting angry and they began to walk to the breakroom, but Beckett stopped them. "Just wait a minute. She'll be right. I'm sure she can handle herself."_

* * *

"_You have no idea what it's like to see someone you love die!" He spat at her.  
Hannah looked down at her knees as tears slowly ran down her face. "Actually, I do. I saw the only foster family I actually liked die. All of them. I was there. I saw all the blood. I saw the mangled car; the unrecognisable scraps of metal. I turned off my little sister's life support. So I know exactly what it's like to see someone you love die." She'd whispered. _

_The three boys were silent; Castle frozen in his seat, Ryan and Esposito standing stock-still at the end of the desk. Beckett was the only person who knew that part of Hannah's life, and the others didn't know how to take it._

"_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't realise…" Robby said._

"_I know. It's okay. You know, you and I are a lot alike."_

* * *

"I think it's a good thing." Alexis says.

"You know what? Me too." Kate replies.

* * *

**How was that? It wasn't exactly what I was planning, but Hannah took control and I couldn't stop. Not sure how happy I am with it though.**

**Review away! (You know how to do that, right? Click the little blue button!)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chap 7**_

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill: I do not own Castle, yada yada yada.

* * *

The pair walks through Central Park arm in arm. They get a few strange looks and smiles from different people. Clearly some people think they're in a very inappropriate relationship, while others think they're father and daughter.

All would be wrong.

"I like it here." Hannah says, marvelling at the trees.

"Yeah, me too. Have you never been to Central Park before?" Castle asks her.

"No." She shakes her head. "The home I'm in is halfway between Aquebogue and Rocky Point. The closest I've been to New York is Mineola. I lived with that family for three weeks. I hated them."

"How many different families have you been with?" Castle asks curiously.

"Ummm," She counts on her fingers, "23."

Castle's mouth drops open at her revelation. "What's the shortest amount of time you've been with one family for?"

"Four days." She answers quickly.

His mouth falls open even further than last time. "Four days? That's not enough time to get to know somebody!"

She shrugs her shoulders. "I didn't want to get to know them."

"Fair enough. But why? Why didn't you want to give anybody a chance?"

"Because, I just… I wanted to be a part of my family. But I didn't want to leave the home with another family that wasn't _mine_, because the other kids in the home and the carers and workers there have become my family."

"What?" He asks, thoroughly confused.

"Have you seen _St Trinian's_?"

"The movie?"

"Yeah." She nods her head.

"Yeah, I bought it for Alexis when it came out on DVD."

"Okay, so, you know how Annabelle says they're like a happy, dysfunctional family?"

He nods, "Mmmm."

"Well, that's what it's like in the home. We're all so different, and we fight and argue all the time, but at the end of the day we make it work, 'cause we're all we have. We've come to love and protect each other."

"Yeah, I guess. What happens when you hit 18?"

"You can choose to leave, or have them give you your family details, or you can stay and train to become one of the carers."

"What would you do? I mean, if you hadn't run off and found us." He winks.

Hannah laughs before answering. "I don't know. I probably would've asked for my family's details but then done nothing about it and just trained to be a carer."

"Surely you want to be more than that? Do more?"

Hannah nods her head. "Yeah, I do. But it's hard. I can't even get a summer job because I live in a foster home. Nobody wants a foster kid – who can't stay with one family for more than a year – to work for them."

"So, what do you want to do? If you could pick what you do for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

The pair leave the park and begin their walk back to the loft.

"Ummm. I don't know, actually. I have so many things that I can't choose between."

"Like what?"

"A journalist that interviews all the celebrities, a paediatrician, an anthropologist, an archaeologist, a lawyer, a movie actress, a singer, an author." She smirks at him and says, "An X-Man. Or X-Lady."

"Okay, why would you want to be a celebrity journalist?"

"I guess I just… Kinda get crazy obsessions and know so much random crap about actors and movies and singers, and I'd like to do something with it all. And I think it'd be cool to actually get to know celebrities… Like actually sit down and have a conversation with them. And then I could brag to people. They'd be like, 'Oh, guess what, I just pre-ordered the new Gucci bag', and I'd be like, 'Oh really? Well I just had a heart-to-heart with Selena Gomez. Beat that, bitch'."

"I'd never thought of that." He laughs. "Well, now you can say to people you've had a heart-to-heart with Richard Castle."

"I will."

"You better. Anyway, why do you want to be a paediatrician?"

"I've always loved kids, and one of my friends hurt her foot at school – her toe nail got ripped off – and her mother told me I'd be a really good nurse. Later that night I was telling one of the carers about it and she said I could be a paediatrician and do nursing and look after kids at the same time and I thought that was a good idea."

"And why do you want to be an X-Lady?"

"Because it'd be so cool! I'd love to be a mutant! And I could go out and save the world and really help people! And I'd like to be friends with Wolverine and Storm and Kitty and Bobby."

"What would your mutation be?"

"I don't know. It'd be cool to be able to create fire and water. And to be able to touch people and choose whether to make them hurt or take away their pain, depending on whether it was someone you liked or not."

"You realise that people'd look at you weirdly if you were a mutant?"

"I've lived in a foster home my entire life. They already do." Hannah whispers, just as they reach Castle's building.

* * *

"They should be back by now!" I say, still pacing around the loft. "Surely she couldn't have got that far?"

"They're back!" Alexis shouts from her position sitting in the doorway.

I run over to the door as Alexis quickly stands up.

I sigh in relief as I see the girl with curly blonde hair walking towards us with her arm linked through Castle's.

"What took you so long? You've been gone for over an hour!" I exclaim.

"We went for a walk and had a little chat." Castle says.

"About what?"

"What our mutant powers would be." I roll my eyes. "I'm serious!" He exclaims, "We actually did!"

I look at Hannah and she nods her head. "We really did talk about mutant powers."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because he asked me what I wanted to be and I said an X-Lady."

"As in a female X-Man?" I ask.

"That's the one." Castle smiles at me and I can't help but smile back.

"So, are you guys ready to eat? 'Cause I'm starving!" Alexis says and grabs Hannah's hand, dragging her inside.

"Dad," I say quietly, "Hannah and Castle are back."

Dad walks towards with Martha behind him.

"You okay, Kiddo?" Martha asks Hannah.

"I'm fine thanks, Martha. Just had one of my crazy moments. Sometimes back at the home I'll have a crazy moment and run out and just keep running and running until I can't run any more and then I walk and walk and don't go back for hours. I think the longest time I was away was like, 16 hours or something. It was crazy. I just wandered around all night. They sent out a search party looking for me, they were that worried. They all think I have something wrong upstairs. They've sent me to a whole bunch of shrinks, but they all say there's nothing wrong. Just that I have mild depression and medium anxiety, which is supposedly normal. But they've all said I keep things bottled up and that's why I have my outbursts and breakdowns. 'Cause I don't talk to anyone about how I'm feeling. They say I have trust issues. Na shit, I have trust issues. I bet they would, too, if they got dumped in a foster home."

We all nod our heads in understanding and agreement, except for Dad, who has a pained look on his face.

"Uh, Han." I whisper in her ear and indicate to Dad with my head.

"Oh. Sorry." She apologises.

"No, I'm sorry, Honey. How about we eat and then I'll tell you – both of you," He looks at me, "Why we did it."

"Okay." Hannah and I say at the same time.

* * *

**What'd you think?**

**The next chapter might be up by later this afternoon!**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chap 8**_

**Disclaimer:** I'm getting sick of these. We all know I don't own Castle. Never have, probably never will :( Unless I win lotto and buy it off Andrew Marlow, which isn't actually such a bad idea. Now all I need to do is win the money…

* * *

We sit around the table in silence, eating the pasta that Mr Castle and Kate had cooked for us. Luckily, Martha had taken it off the stove and put in the fridge after Mr Castle and I had left, so it wasn't burnt or overcooked or anything. Thank God for that. Martha and Mr Castle are sitting at the two ends, Kate beside our father, and Alexis and I are opposite them, beside each other.

"So, Hannah," Mr Beckett says to me, "What school do you go to?"

I finish chewing my mouthful and swallow it before answering. "St Peter's District High School."

"I haven't heard of that before."

"Um. No. Well, it's a catholic school that combines junior high and high school together."

"Is it big?"

"I think there's about 2 and half thousand students. All of the older kids in the home go there."

I see him stiffen at the term 'the home'. "What primary school did you go to?"

"St Benedict's. It's one of St Pete's feeder schools. All of the younger home kids go there."

"You have many friends?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Any that don't live in the foster home?"

"Yes. Lucy and Sophie and Scarlet and Meg and Jake and Cam and Andrew."

"Are you close with any of the kids in the foster home?"

"As I told Mr Castle before, we're like a big dysfunctional family but we have fun and get along most of the time."

"You're really gonna have to stop calling me Mr Castle. Rick'll do." Mr Castle says.

"Or Castle. Or Writer Boy. Or Baby. Or Man Child." Kate says and smirks at Mr Castle.

"Who are you closest to?" My dad asks.

"Look, I get what you're trying to do; I'm not stupid. You're trying to make me forget that you're supposed to be telling _all of us_ why you abandoned me."

He sighs and puts his fork down, running his fingers through his hair. "Okay. Are you sure you want to hear it all?"

"Yes!" Kate and I almost yell at the same time.

"Okay. Well, it was 16 years ago. Johanna had just started working on _that_ case."

Kate nods slowly and I ask, "The one that got her killed?"

"Yes, that one. Anyway, she'd just started looking into it. She became obsessed with it. It scared me."

Kate looks down and – out of the corner of my eye – I see Mr Castle grab her hand.

"After working on it for about three months, she began getting death threats in the mail, and people called and threatened her on an untraceable phone. But it wasn't just her they were threatening. It was you, too, Katie. That's why we sent you on the earlier exchange. Johanna had already decided that she'd keep working the case, but wanted you out of harm's way. We'd already changed your exchange when we found out she was pregnant. We didn't tell you because we knew you'd want to keep the baby, but we also knew it'd be safer if we gave it up. Neither of us wanted to. It was sheer dumb luck that you were on exchange for the duration of the pregnancy. What worried us was that you were supposed to get back two weeks before Hannah's due date. Thankfully, you were born three weeks early." He says to me. "After the birth Johanna stayed in hospital for two days and then was discharged, but you stayed in there for two weeks. After that, one of Johanna's work colleagues looked after you until you were three months old. That's when we took you up to the foster home. We wanted you far enough out of New York so you wouldn't be harmed, but close enough that we could visit you. We came and visited you every month or so. We were planning on taking you back after the case was closed. But after Johanna died… I just couldn't. So I left you in there, because I saw how nice the people that worked there were. The police found a piece of paper in her jacket pocket and showed me. It said…"

"_'Get HMB'_!" Kate exclaims. "I saw that! But I never knew what it meant. 'HMB': Hannah Marissa Beckett! She was telling you to get Hannah!"

He nods his head. "Yes."

"So why didn't you?"

"You think I could've looked after a three year old kid? Katie, you were looking after me! I got drunk every night! There's no way I could've taken care of a little kid."

"You could've tried." I whisper. "She wanted you to get me."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was a coward, I know."

"Yeah, you were." I know that sounds harsh, but hey, my mother wanted him to get me and he chose not to. "Did you ever think about me?"

"Every day."

"When's my birthday?"

"August 17."

"Who else in the home has the exact same birthday as me?"

"A girl called Ali. The two of you were absolutely inseparable when Johanna and I came to visit."

"Did you ever consider coming to get me out?"

"Yes. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year. A few times, on your birthday or the day before, I've actually gone up, planning on bringing you home. But then I got there and sat in the car, once I even went inside and saw Ali giving you a present. But I just couldn't bring you back. It was your ninth birthday when I came in. Ali gave you a princess Barbie doll with a horse."

"Why did you never ask me if I wanted to come visit her?" Kate asks.

"Because I knew you wouldn't leave until we brought her home with us."

"And would that've really been so bad?" Kate doesn't seem to be any less angry wit him, but I am. Just knowing that he came up intending to bring me home… It makes me feel a bit better. A little less rejected.

* * *

**How was that? A bit short, but I think it's pretty good.**

**I'd like to thank my official Beta, CastleFan1012, and the one that just wants advance copies of the chapters, Reader244. Thanks guys!**

**And I'd also like to thank katherine temperance and purplangel for giving me the idea about Johanna's death threats. I got some other amazing ideas about why they hid the pregnancy, but I figured that this is the one I'd be able to pull off best.  
**

**Hope you liked it! You know you wanna review. Really. You do. ;)**

**I'm going to buy a lotto ticket tonight and win enough money to buy Castle! ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chap 9**_

**Disclaimer:** Haven't won the lotto yet, so still no chance that I own Castle.

* * *

"We should probably get going." Beckett says to me.

"No, that's okay. Stay. You can stay in the spare room." I tell her.

"No, I'll take her home so first thing in the morning I can take her up to the home and get her things."

"Kate, do you really think they'll let you take her that easily? There'll be mountains of paperwork. Besides, look at her." I indicate to Hannah, curled up on the couch, her head on Alexis's knees. Both girls are soundly asleep.

"Rick, I think it's so sweet. How amazing you've been being to Hannah. But I think it's probably best if I just take her home."

"Okay," I sigh, knowing that I won't win this discussion. "Do you want me to carry her down?"

"Yes please." She says gratefully.

I walk over to the sleeping pair and pick the younger girl up gently. Alexis feels the movement and opens her eyes groggily. "Dad. What are you doing?" She mumbles, rubbing her eyes.

"Just taking Hannah down to Kate's car, Pumpkin."

Alexis yawns. "They can stay here."

"We would, sweetie, but I'm taking Hannah back to the foster home in the morning." Beckett says. We both se Alexis stiffen and go to say something, but Beckett continues. "Don't worry. We're going to get her things. That's all. I'm bringing her back. She's not getting away from us that easily." Beckett laughs.

"Okay." Alexis slowly stands up and staggers over to Kate before wrapping her in a hug.

Kate stiffens in shock before hugging my daughter back – albeit warily.

"Night Detec… Kate." Alexis says and pulls away.

"Night Alexis." Beckett says as Alexis walks up the stairs towards her room.

"Mother," I call, "I'm just taking Hannah down to Kate's car."

"Ok, dear. Kate, love, if she wakes up, tell her I said goodnight and I'll see her soon." My mother comes out of the kitchen, another glass of red wine in her hand.

"I will. Thanks Martha." Kate says. "For everything."

"Oh, don't go thanking me yet, Kiddo."

"Excuse me?" Beckett asks, confused. "What?"

"Nothing, dear. Nothing at all." Mother says before walking swiftly up the stairs, wine glass – and bottle, I notice – in hand.

"The three of them are up to something." Beckett says to me.

"You don't say." I say, having noticed the same thing while we ate.

She glares at me and begins walking to the door of the loft. "So, ummm… Tomorrow, after I've been up to the foster home…"

"Do you want me to come with you?" I say quickly.

"Can we take the Ferrari?"

I roll my eyes at her as we step into the elevator.

"I'll be fine, thanks. But you could come over to my apartment or we could come back here in the afternoon."

"Yeah, sure! That'd be great!"

"Okay. How about you meet me at my apartment at about 2 and we can all go out and do something. Bring Alexis and we'll all do something together."

"Okay."

Brighton opens the door for us and we walk to her car. She unlocks it and opens and the back door so I can slide Hannah in and do her seatbelt up.

"Thanks for that. And everything you did today." She gently presses her lips to my cheek.

"Always, Kate." I say once I am able to speak again.

"Goodnight, Rick."

"See you tomorrow." I say as she gets in the car and closes her door.

* * *

I smirk as the car drives away and I turn my head slightly so I can watch Mr Castle as we drive away from him. After seeing that kiss I don't think the Casketteers will have to work very hard to get those two together.

* * *

I lift Hannah out of the car and carry her up to my apartment, somehow managing to open to the door with her in my arms.

I gently place her in my bed before grabbing my PJs and going into the bathroom to get changed.

I walk back into my bedroom and gently kiss Hannah's forehead before turning to leave, planning on sleeping on the couch as the spare room isn't made up. Hannah's hand wraps tightly around my wrist. "Stay?" She mumbles drowsily and one eye slowly slides open.

"Okay." I walk around to the other side of the bed and slide in, turning my phone to silent and placing it beside the bed before rolling over to face Hannah, who seems to already be asleep again. I chuckle slightly.

"What?" She asks, rolling over to face me, her eyes remaining closed. "What's funny?"

"Nothing, Sweetie. Nothing." I reassure her.

I hear my phone vibrate on the bedside table and grab it. It's a text from Castle: HOME YET? RC

I smile and reply: YEA, JUST GOT HOME & PUT HMB IN BED. C U 2MORROW… B HERE AT 2 OR UR DEAD! ;P KB

C U THEN! HAV FUN WIT ALL TH PAPERWORK AT TH HOME ;) RC

I roll my eyes before replying with simply an emoticon: -.-

He replies: ;) HEHE LUV YA ;)

* * *

**Wow, that was massively short. It had to finish there though, or have some of the next day in this chapter which I refuse to do. I will not have more than one day in one chapter.**

**So, other than the pathetic length, what'd you guys think?**

**Still trying to win enough money to buy Castle ;)  
**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chap 10**_

**Disclaimer:** Nope, everything still belongs to AM.

* * *

"Come on Hannah. Wake up, Sweetie." I hear Kate's voice and feel her hand gently touch my shoulder. "We're going up to the home to get your things."

My eyes snap open. "Really?"

"Mhm. I mean, unless you'd rather live there than here."

"No! But are you serious?" I almost squeal with excitement.

"Yes, I am. And then once we get back we're going to do something with Castle and Alexis for the afternoon."

"You're seriously getting me out of there?" I ask.

"Yes." Kate laughs at me walking towards the door of the room.

I jump out of bed and fly and her, throwing my arms around her and making her stagger backwards under the impact.

"Wow, slow down! There's no rush! It's only seven. We don't have to leave here for another hour or so."

"You do realise it could take us between an hour and a half to three hours to get there, depending on traffic." I say.

"Hannah, Hannah, Hannah. I'm a cop. I know how to avoid traffic. Besides, I can just turn the sirens on and people'll move out of my way." She says.

"True." I agree. "So, we have an hour before we need to go?"

"Mhm."

"Can I have a shower? I haven't had one since Tuesday night, 'cause I left at like, three in the morning yesterday and figured that it'd wake people up if I turned the shower on that early."

Kate laughs. "Sure, you can have a shower. Everything you need should be in there. Do you want a shower or breakfast first?"

"Shower, please."

"Okay." I follow Kate to the bathroom, "So, there's shampoo and body wash in there that you can use, and," She opens a cupboard under the sink, "Here's a new razor and a loofa you can use. I'll go get you some towels and a face washer."

Kate walks out of the bathroom and I strip down to my bra and undies, jumping up and down on the spot to keep warm. My back is to the door, so the thing that alerts me to Kate's presence is the laugh that erupts from the doorway.

"What?" I ask, jumping in a circle to face her.

"You are one strange child."

"Why thank you."

"Here's your towels. I got you a big one for your body and a smaller one to wrap your hair in. You don't have clean clothes, do you?"

"Ummmm. No." I say. "I can just wear the same bra, but I don't have any clean undies."

"That's okay, Lanie got me a pack of five and they are still unopened. I think three were thongs and two were bikini briefs. Preference?"

"Not the thong!" I shriek. "How can people wear them? It's like choosing to have a wedgie _all_ day. No thank you."

"Okay bikini briefs it is. And I'm sure I can find some other clothes that'll fit you."

"Cool, thanks."

"I'll start breakfast. How's an omelette and bacon sound?"

"Amazing!"

"Okay. Don't be more than twenty minutes in here. I don't want my water bill to skyrocket."

"Okay, I'll try." I smirk at my sister as she closes door.

I hear her voice through the wood, "Haha, funny girl."

* * *

"…why all the trees change in the fall. I know you're not scared of anything at all. Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away…" I sing as I cook the omelettes, "But I know I had the best day with you today."

If anybody asks me why I'm singing one of Taylor Swift's songs, I won't be able to answer them. I don't know how I even know all the lyrics to this song. I mean, I've heard it a few times and thought about how it was my mum and me, but I didn't realise I actually _knew_ it.

"I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean…" Suddenly another clear voice joins mine and I spin around to see Hannah, again in just her bra and my new undies. "I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys. And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away. And we talk and window shop til I forgot all their names."

"Why are you still semi naked?" I ask her.

"Ummm, 'cause you didn't give me any other clothes. And I didn't wanna go through your closet drawers. God knows what I would've found."

I roll my eyes at her. "What sort of things do you think you might've found?"

"You know, a few 'pleasure giving' toys." She makes air quotation marks with her fingers.

"And what makes you think I would need those suspected 'pleasure giving' toys?" I copy her air quotations.

"Oh, come on! You're head over heels for Mr Castle! There's no way you've had sex with anyone for months! Lanie told me!"

"You're bonding session with Lanie and Alexis." I sigh as it clicks into place. "I should've figured that she would've updated you on my sex life. Or lack thereof."

"So, you're admitting to not having sex since you were shot?"

"What! No!" I backtrack quickly, knowing that Mini-me just set me up.

"You just said, and I quote: '…lack thereof'!"

"I…I…uh…" I know there's no way of getting out of this one, so decide to change the subject. "So, breakfast's ready. Go put my robe on so you don't burn yourself."

Hannah turns and walks back towards the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, "This conversation is not over! We have a whole car trip to fill in, remember!"

I let out a sigh and slide the omelettes onto two plates and then put a few strips of bacon onto each.

"So, what's in the omelettes?" Hannah asks as she comes into view again, tying the sash of the robe around her middle.

"Cheese, mushrooms, onion and capsicum. Is that okay?"

"Sounds delicious!" She says, not returning to our previous conversation as we sit at the table and begin to eat.

About halfway through breakfast a knock sounds at the door. I stand up and walk to the door, grabbing my gun off the coffee table as I pass it and pressing it against my thigh. Another, more insistent knock sounds on the door, followed by a voice I recognise. "Beckett? Hannah? Can someone please open the door? I come bearing gifts… at least, for the kid."

Hannah's voice replies from behind me. "I am not a kid."

"So you're there?" Castle asks.

"Duh." She replies. "Come on, she's a cop. Of course she wakes up early."

"So are you gonna let me in?"

"I dunno. Kate's standing between me and the door, shaking her head a me and me mouthing to me that I shouldn't've answered you." She lies, smirking at me.

"You little…" I begin, knowing she's trying to get me into trouble with Castle.

"Kaaaaaaaaate. Pleeeeeeeease open the door." Castle whines. "I have clothes for Hannah."

I sigh and pull open the door, to find Castle standing on the other side, a pile clothes in his arms.

"They're Alexis's. I figured that Hannah's shorter than you so your clothes wouldn't fit her." He explains, holding the clothes out for me.

I role my eyes at him. "Do you want a coffee?"

He grins at me. "Stupid question. When do I not want coffee? It's like when I ask you if you want a coffee. Only one answer."

I shake my head at him, even though he has a very good point. "Come in."

* * *

**Hmmmm… Not where I was planning on it going, I was planning on the breakfast bit being a bit shorter and having the car ride up to the home in this chapter, too, but Beckett started singing and then Castle decided he had to show up and I couldn't say no, now could I?**

**What'd you think?**

**And I have a question for anyone reading Caskett and Kick: should Kate have a miscarriage?**

**I'm apologising in advance in case I don't update in the next few weeks. Our three week end of term holidays just started. Next week I will be helping at the primary school I went to because their holidays are only two weeks. The week after that most of my time will be spent helping my cousins 'cause they have dancing competitions – a week in hell. One of the days my 11 year old cousin has 6 solos and two or three groups! That's gonna be one busy day! And the last week will be spent at my shack where there is absolutely no internet connection :(**

**Review away!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chap 11**_

**Disclaimer:** You all already know I own nothing… Still working on winning money or forging adoption papers or something… I was thinking that maybe to shake it up a bit I could say I'm Nathan Fillion's kid and use his money to buy _Castle_ from AM…

* * *

The two sisters sit in Kate's – currently stationary – Crown Vic at a set of red traffic lights.

"I thought you said you knew how to avoid traffic." Hannah says, looking over at Kate.

"I did and I do, but nobody can avoid red lights." She replies.

"You could always turn your sirens on." Hannah says, reaching for the button.

"Oh no you don't." Kate swats at Hannah's hand until the teenager retracts it, pulling it back towards the safety of her body. "You're as bad as Castle."

"Why thank you. I think he's pretty cool."

"You clearly don't know him." Kate says as the lights turn green.

"Ah, but you do and you like him. You _like_ like him."

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Not."

"Do."

"Not."

"Do."

"We sound like the biggest kids ever."

"I am a kid." Hannah replies.

"An hour ago you told Castle that you weren't a kid and now you tell me you are. Which one is it?"

"Whichever reaps the best benefits for me."

"Okay, that is _not_ something a kid would say."

"What can I say? I'm a smart kid."

Kate rolls her eyes, but laughs despite herself, at her little sister's antics.

"You're a weird kid, is what you are."

"The two aren't mutually exclusive."

"True."

"Can I put a CD in?" Hannah asks, a whiny tinge to her voice.

"What CD?" I ask, exasperated, "There's none in the car."

"I have one." She pulls a CD case out of her bag and holds it up.

My eyes flick over to it and I see the hopeful look on her face and can't not put it on.

But, I will not go down without a small fight: "Really? You want to listen to One Direction?"

She bobs her head up and down excitedly. "Pleeeeease?"

I look at her out of the corner of my eye before giving in completely. "Okay." I sigh.

"Yes!" She pumps her fist in the air and slides the disk into the player.

The familiar music of _What Makes You Beautiful_ fills the car and Hannah's voice joins in with the music perfectly when the boys start singing.

"You're insecure. Don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the door. Don't need makeup. To cover up. Being the way that you are is enough. Everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but you…"

* * *

"Can we play a game?" I ask, as soon as _Stole My Heart_ – the last song on the CD – has finished.

"What sort of game?" Kate asks, looking over at me.

"Ummm… I was thinking that we'd take it in turns and have to say a name or a thing in our lives that start with each letter of the alphabet. It'll help us get to know each other."

"Okay, sure. You wanna start?"

"Yep. Okay, A. Ali. She's my best friend and has been for as long as I can remember. She got fostered out to a family that she really likes about four months ago. Your turn."

"Ummm… Always. It's something that Castle and I say to each other sometimes. It's kind of how we safely say…"

"I love you?" I finish, as Kate is clearly unable to.

She nods her head, eyes glued to the road. "Yeah."

"B… Balls. I love any sort of sport involving balls. Baseball, basketball, soccer."

"Bullet." One of her hands leaves the steering wheel and moves to rest on the middle of her chest. "From when I was shot. It killed me. Literally. But on the other side of the coin, bullets have always protected me."

"The irony of life." I mumble.

"Exactly. You're turn. You're up to C."

"Yep. Umm… C, c, c. Castle. I love his books. They are actually amazing!"

"Don't tell him that; his head might explode."

I laugh at Kate's comment. "Okay, you're turn for C."

"Well, Castle was going to be mine, too. So, it'd have to be him because he's such a huge part of my life now. He had been before we even met. His books kinda saved me after Mum died. They were like my solid ground, keeping me from falling over the edge of the cliff, and then he showed up and literally saved my life so many times. He's everything. He's the one that's always there. I can't picture my life without him in it anymore. I find myself wondering how I survived before he showed up."

"I have another C."

"Mmm. Go ahead."

"Celebrities." Kate's head flicks to look at me and I see her raised eyebrow. "Don't judge me. I've always liked the fact that celebrities give us something to look up to, something to aspire to be. A few set really bad examples, but the others are all amazing role models in so many different ways. They're like… the thing that holds the world together. They unite us all. It doesn't matter what they look like or what their background is. If they can act or sing or dance, they can use that to make people happy and to inspire people. And so many of them are just real people with good hearts who got this amazing opportunity and grabbed it before it could pass them by. I've decided that everyone could be a celebrity if they took those chances, the opportunities that came their way, but the ones we see, the ones we hear about, the ones that make it are the ones that were actually brave enough to do it. They were brave enough to take the chance, the risk. They were brave enough to dive in head first. And they were dedicated enough to put in the hard work. People always think that celebrities are overrated and stuck up and don't deserve half the money they have, but I think they are so wrong. They're just brave versions of everyone else. I think they deserve every penny they get, just for the fact that they actually got there, and that they give the rest of the world something to look at and say 'I want to be like them'."

"That's actually so true. I'd never thought about it like that before. You know, you're pretty smart." I smile at her and a small blush creeps across my cheeks. "So, seeing as you did two Cs, can I have another one?"

"Yep."

"Coffee. Other than Castle, it's my saviour. It's also another one of our things…"

"Like how you say 'always'?"

"Yeah. Castle always brings me a coffee every morning. I guess it's how we say good morning. And it's his way of saying, 'see, I'm here again just like I promised I'd always be'."

I nod my head and smile at her.

"So, you're up to D."

"Okay. Dinosaurs."

"Really? You go from celebrities to dinosaurs?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?" I ask indignantly.

"Nothing, nothing at all. It just surprised me."

"So, D for dinosaurs, because they've always fascinated me. I don't know why, exactly, but they have. I used to do this thing where I'd decide which sort of dinosaur people would be depending on what they looked like and what their personality was."

"What would I be?"

"I'm not sure, but I've decided Captain Gates would be a T-Rex, 'cause she's scary and seems pretty ruthless."

"You have no idea."

* * *

"So, Detective Beckett, as you are Miss Beckett's biological relation, you are permitted to take her home now that you've signed this." The older woman holds up the form that now has Beckett's signature, along with her own. "We do usually conduct a thorough background check of anyone requesting to take one of the children home, but… I don't feel that that is necessary in this situation. You can take Miss Beckett home with you now, if that is what you both wish, but you'll need to come back in at some stage within the next month to fill out all of the guardianship forms. It would also be a good idea to bring your father with you. So, Hannah," The woman behind the desk turns to the youngest person in the room, "Would you like to go with Detective Beckett now?"

"No, I've been looking for her for half a year but I don't wanna go with her." She says sarcastically. "Besides, when do I ever have a choice about when I go home with people?"

"Hannah." The woman warns her.

Hannah rolls her eyes. "Yes I'll go with her now."

"Very well then. You can take as many of your things with you now as you like, and you can get the rest when Detective Beckett comes back." The woman stands and indicates for the two sisters to leave her office.

When Kate shuts the door behind them, Hannah leads her down the hallway.

"Stupid old hag!" Hannah exclaims.

"Hannah!" Her sister says, shocked.

"What? She is. She thinks she knows everything, when in actual fact, she's the only worker here that wasn't a foster kid, so she would know the least. And she's always hated me."

"Well, if you speak to her like you just did all the time, I don't blame her."

"You're supposed to be on my side!"

Kate rolls her eyes, "I am on your side. But she just let you go. She didn't even do a background check on me."

"Yeah, that's only 'cause she can't wait to get rid of me." Hannah says bitterly, opening the door of the bedroom she shares with Caitlyn, Christina and Letisha.

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?" Caitlyn screeches at me when I step into the room.

"I left a note." I reply.

"Yeah, saying you were going to find your sister. In New York!" Letisha adds.

"At least I told you where I was going." I shrug my shoulders.

"Yeah, and you didn't have to tell Alz that you'd run off!" Christina says.

"And your phone was off. We all tried calling you. You'll a zillion missed calls and texts from Ali. She was freaking out so bad!" Letisha exclaims.

"So'd ya find her?" Caitlyn asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, actually, I did." I reach behind me and grab Kate's hand, pulling her into the room and into the three girls' view.

All three of their mouths drop open as they look at Kate.

"Uh. Hi." Kate says. "I'm Kate."

"Hi." Letisha says, the first one to snap out of her stupor. "I'm Letisha."

"Hey. Did you know about Han?" Christina asks Kate.

"No." Kate shakes her head. "My parents never told me about her. Apparently they came and visited, but I was never invited."

"Oh." The short, blonde haired, blue eyed girl nods her head. "I'm Christina, by the way."

Caitlyn is still staring at Kate and me, eyes flicking between the two of us at a speed that I would've thought quicker than possible. Christina elbows her sharply in the ribs.

"Uhhh. Hi. Wow. You're really pretty. And… Is it just me or are they almost identical?" Caitlyn asks, her head flicking back to Christina and Letisha, directing her question at them.

"Yeah, they are actually." Christina nods her head in agreement.

"Anyway, I'm Caitlyn. Funniest, smartest, prettiest, blondest, quickest, tallest, most rebel, most violent and youngest _original_ Room 17 member." Caitlyn introduces herself to Kate.

"Yeah, that was all before Ali left and I took all of those off you. Except for tallest, blondest and most violent." I retort.

She pokes her tongue out at me. "No, I still hold all of those titles except for youngest."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." I reply, dodging her hand as it flies out to punch my arm. "See what we mean about most violent." I say to Kate, who is laughing at our 'debate'.

"I am _not_ getting involved in this." She replies, still chuckling. "I'm completely neutral when it comes to fights between hormonal teenage girls."

"It's not a fight." I state.

"It's a debate." Caitlyn adds.

"Also known as a heated discussion." Christina says.

"Or an argument. Which, yes, makes it a fight." Letisha says.

Kate laughs at the four of us again. "You guys are insufferable."

"You should see her and Ali." Christina says.

"Yeah, we might be insufferable, but they were unstoppable." Caitlyn adds. "When they set their mind on something – whether it be sitting beside each other for dinner or giving each other a black eye – there was no stopping them. It was pretty funny actually."

"You gave each other black eyes?" Kate asks, shocked, looking down at me.

I smile at her sheepishly. "Just once."

"Actually, I had it at about four times. Well, she gave you four black eyes. Haven't you given her five?" Caitlyn smirks at me.

I glare at her.

"Hannah! And you said Caitlyn was the violent one! Can I trust you to not break Alexis? I'm pretty sure Castle'd kill me if you did!" Kate says to me.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna touch Lex, 'cause then Mr Castle'd hate you forever, and then you'd hate me forever, which in turn would make Lanie, Ryan and Esposito hate me forever. I can't cut all my New York connections… At least, not yet."

"I don't know if I'm gonna survive our new arrangement." She sighs at me.

"You can't get rid of me til after Mr Castle's birthday. It's gonna be epic!"

"Why?" She narrows her eyebrows at me suspiciously.

"Well, he doesn't know this yet, but Lex and I are organising a huge party for him, 'cause it's his fortieth and all."

"Wait, what? Who's Alexis?" Christina asks.

"My work partner's daughter." Kate explains absently before turning back to me, "You and Alexis are organising Castle's birthday? Is it gonna be a surprise party or something?"

"No. We just haven't told him yet. Anyway, he's not gonna have any input at all in it. He'll know that we're organising it, and he'll know the theme – which we still need to work out, actually – but everything else'll be a surprise. So I guess it's a semi-surprise party."

"Oh…"

"Wait, if your sister lives in New York, then this Mr Castle guy must live in New York, too. How are you gonna organise a party for him when your co-organiser is in New York and you're here?" Caitlyn asks me.

"I'm moving to New York to live with Kate." I answer. "I'm leaving today."

* * *

I close the trunk on Hannah's suitcase and duffel bag and turn around to watch her.

"Do you have to go?" Ali sobs into Hannah's shoulder.

"No, but I want to. I'll come visit, I promise. Besides, now we both have a family." Hannah replies, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

"What about our birthday?"

"Well, either I can come here and visit you or you can come to visit me. Would that be okay?" Hannah releases her friend and turns to look at me.

I nod my head. "Of course. And if you want, during holidays she can come and stay with us for a week or vice versa."

"Really?" Hannah's face brightens immediately.

"Yeah." I nod my head at her.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

I smile softly at her. "Always."

Her mouth drops open at the fact that I used mine and Castle's 'special' word, before she smiles softly back at me.

"I think I'm ready to go, now." Hannah says, as Ali was the last person she wanted to say goodbye to, walking over to me.

"Nannah!" Two small red-headed girls scream, running over to us, and each one wraps their arms around each of Hannah's legs.

"Don't go!" One of them cries, looking up at Hannah with tears sparkling in her small, clear blue eyes.

"Don't worry, Rhee, I'll come and visit you." Hannah says, squatting down and gently unwrapping the girls' arms from around her legs.

"Me too?" The other girl asks, this one with green eyes.

"You too, Nora." Hannah promises.

"Pinky swear?" The one that spoke first asks.

"Pinky swear." Hannah replies, linking both of her pinky fingers through the ones that the little girls hold up. "Bye, you two. Try and stay out of trouble. You're my favourite little Rugrats, remember?" She whispers to them, kissing the top of their heads.

Hannah stands back up and the two girls run over to Ali and latch onto her hands.

We go to the car and as we open the doors to get in, I hear a male's soft voice: "Hannah."

* * *

"Hannah." I close my eyes as I hear Jake's voice and his hand wraps around my wrist.

I'd noticed earlier that he hadn't come out to say goodbye to me, and I was hoping that maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd just let me go. I guess I should've known better.

"Please don't do this." I whisper to him, my eyes still closed.

"Don't go." He says.

"Why not?" I open my eyes and turn to him. "Why shouldn't I go? I finally have this chance at being happy and you want me to give it up? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go." I challenge.

"Because I care about you. I don't want to be stuck in this hellhole without you."

I shake my head at him. "Not good enough." I whisper and slide into the car.

"Han!"

"I'm sorry." I say quietly as the tears track slowly down my face.

"Yeah, me too. I'm sorry about the things I said. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I'm sorry that I hurt you."

I nod my head and look up at him. "I know. But it's too late. You always wanted me to be happy. Well, this is it." I shut the door and nod to Kate, telling her to go.

"Hannah!" Jake yells as we pull away.

* * *

**Wow, that was really long! Anyways, what'd you think? Review away!**

**Oh, and does anyone have any ideas about what sort of dinosaurs Martha, Alexis, Lanie, Ryan and Esposito would be?**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chap12**_

_**My brother said to me the other day: "You should go on **__**The Voice**__** or **__**X-Factor**__** or something and win and then you could buy Castle! Or Taylor Lautner!" Oh, how well he knows me. **_

_**Then I said "I can't buy Taylor Lautner, stupid."**_

_**He said: "Why not?"**_

_**And then I said "Because he's a person. I don't think you can buy people."**_

_**Then he said "But you wanna buy Castle!"**_

"_**Yeah, **__**Castle**__**'s a TV show, not a person."**_

"_**Ohhhh… I thought you meant you wanted to buy the actor that plays Castle."**_

"_**Nathan Fillion?"**_

"_**Yeah, him!"**_

_**Then I laughed and said: "Lol, that'd be funny. I'd buy Nathan Fillion and put in my disclaimer: 'So, I skipped buying **__**Castle**__** and went straight to buying Fillion!'"**_

_**And he laughed and said: "What would Smurf say?" (She's my personal equivalent of Lanie! 'Smurf' is now what my whole family calls her… loooooong story) by the way I convinced her to join this site… Her PenName is smurfette44**_

_**Then I said: "She'd say 'bullshit! You're a liar and I don't believe you!'" because I convinced one of my guy friends that I was Logan Lerman's best friend and had been since we were babies… He believed me for two whole years! Also, when I got back from Phuket I text Smurf and told her that I'd met Niall Horan at Nando's at the airport and he said I was pretty and he kissed my cheek and she believed me and was apparently crying… til her mum told her that 1D didn't get to Melbourne for two days. Then Smurf basically murdered me… At least, she contemplated it ;) (I really hope you're reading this, Smurf! You got mentioned in not only my profile TWICE but in an Author's Note, too! Please don't kill me! Hehehe -.-)**_

_**Anyways, then my bro said "You could text her a photo of you with him!"**_

_**And I started laughing as I got a picture in my head and said to him: "Yeah, it'd be a picture of me and Nathan and Nathan'd have a 'SOLD' sticker on his forehead and one across his chest!"**_

**Can anyone else picture Fillion like that, with a sold sticker on either his head or his chest?**

**Okay, that's enough of my crap. Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own Castle… But I'm contemplating taking my brother's advice and going on a show and winning all the money…

* * *

"So…" Kate says after about ten minutes of driving in silence.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't come out." I say, looking over at her.

"Why?"

"'Cause I knew something like that'd happen."

"Oh. I see. So, what were those little girls called? You know, the ones that attached themselves to your legs." Kate says, deciding not to push the subject of Jake with me.

"Oh. Rhiannon and Eleanor. Rhee was the one the blue eyes and Nora was the one with green. They're two."

"They were cute."

I smile as I think about the twins. "Yeah, they're adorable."

"You were really good with them."

"Yeah, I guess I just… A lot of the kids in the home are there because their parents died. Not many had actually been abandoned. I was one of the minority that had, so were Rhee and Nora. I figured maybe I could help them. Maybe I could be a parent for them." I shrug my shoulders.

"They looked a bit like Alexis." She points out.

"I know. Especially Rhee. Do you know what Lex looked like when she was little?"

"Apparently she was a bit chubby." She laughs.

I look over at Kate with raised eyebrows. "And you weren't?"

"I never said that."

"So, dear sister, what did _you_ look like when you were little?"

"Well, when was a baby I had red hair that stuck out in every direction. My hair darkened when I was about nine months old. When my hair was long enough, it was always in pigtails and it was all curly. I was a slim baby, I suppose. I mean, I wasn't chubby until I was about one and a half. By the time I was four I'd slimmed back down. I had a round face until I was about six. I was always slightly taller than average height, even when I was little. I've always had eyes like these." She takes one hand off the steering wheel and points to her eyes. "What about you?"

"Pretty much the same as you, but when I was born I had chocolate brown coloured hair that stuck out everywhere. It turned white blonde when I was six months old and just darkened over time to what is now. It hit this colour when I was about twelve, I think. When I was two my hair was long enough to pull into pigtails and when it was in pigtails it turned into one ringlet and it did the same in a ponytail. I had bangs til I was ten when I grew them out. I was chubby from the age of one to three and had an oval-ish shaped face til I was ten when everything became more defined. Like you, I've always been tall and I've always had the same eyes as you. Do yours change colour, 'cause mine do. Mine can be pure green, hazel, or brown depending on what colour clothes I'm wearing or my mood. It's pretty funny actually."

"Mine change colour slightly depending on my mood, but they always have that hazel-y kind of tinge."

"You saw Caitlyn's eyes right?" I ask and Kate nods. "Well, they change colour so much! They're like, a different shade every day. Some days they're green, or hazel, or brown, or blue, or grey! It's so cool!"

"You guys up there a pretty close." Kate observes.

"Yeah. We're… not exactly like siblings. More like cousins, I guess. I mean, some of us are sibling-close, like you are with Ryan and Esposito. Okay, so random change of conversation: why don't you tell Mr Castle how you feel about him?"

She sighs. "It's complicated."

"Is it really? Or are you just saying that so you don't get hurt again?"

* * *

"Hey, Pumpkin?" I call to Alexis.

"Yeah?" She calls back, poking her head over the top of the sofa.

"We're going to the cinema after lunch with Hannah and Beckett…"

"Really? Cool!" She says excitedly.

I laugh at her excitement. "I hadn't finished. You know how I took some clothes over for Hannah?"

"Yes, I do. You took my clothes over without me, remember?" She raises an eyebrow at me and I briefly wonder if she's been having lessons with Beckett.

"You were sleeping! I wasn't exactly gonna wake you up now, was I?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "You could've."

"Fine, next time we get a body drop, I'll wake you up and see if you wanna come?"

"Haven't we both been going to crime scenes lately, no matter what the time is?"

"That's not fair! It's not my fault you are far too grown up for your own good!"

"Actually, I beg to differ. There had to be at least one adult in this household, and it clearly wasn't going to be you or Grams."

I tip my head in acknowledgement of her point, and then go back to the original reason for our conversation. "So, about the movie. Beckett and Hannah said we could pick. Or more accurately, you could pick seeing as you're the sensible one between us. But I was thinking that maybe-"

"No, Dad, we're not going to see The Three Stooges." She cuts me off before I even finish my sentence.

"Why not?" I whine.

"Because you're going with three girls. Two are teenagers and one is a respectable working woman in her thirties. None of us want to watch that. Beside those points, one of them is your highly mature and responsible daughter, the other is your daughter's new best friend and your future sister-in-law, and the final one is your future wife. Do you really want to turn Kate off? I mean, you haven't even shown her the ring!" She jokes.

"If you say anything to either Kate or Hannah about that, I swear I'll-"

"You'll what? Come on Dad, you'd be lost without me, which kind of cuts murder and disownment out of your little revenge schemes."

"Why do you have to be so smart?" I scowl at her.

She shrugs and grins evilly at me. "Well, someone had to make up for your lack of smartness."

I scowl and poke my tongue out at her… in my very immature way.

* * *

Hannah and Kate are sitting on the couch watching old episodes of Temptation Lane.

When Kate had first suggested they watch the show, Hannah had pulled a face and declined, until Kate had said how their mother used to watch it with her when she was sick.

"When are Mr Castle and Alexis gonna get here?" Hannah asks, looking over at her sister.

Kate looks down at her watch. "They should be here in about five minutes."

Right on cue, a knock sounds on the door, followed quickly by Castle's distinct voice, "Beckett? Hannah? Are you guys back yet?"

Hannah smirks at Kate, a mischievous glint sparkling in her eyes. "I'm sorry, the person you are after is unavailable. Please leave a short, ten second message, which will be sent to them via text."

Kate laughs silently at Hannah, while Alexis laughs not so silently in the hallway outside.

"Hahaha." Castle says dryly. "You think you're so funny, Miss Beckett, don't you?"

"She's no worse than you." Kate pipes up, defending her sister.

"Hey! You're my partner! You're supposed to be on my team!" Castle exclaims, his voice rising in pitch.

"So? She's my sister. I think I'm obliged to be on her team." Kate retaliates.

"Fine then, I won't pay for your tickets this afternoon. I'll just get mine and Alexis's."

"I never asked you to get our tickets."

"She has a point." Alexis's voice comes through the wood of the door.

"Really? Has she turned you against me, too?" Castle asks her.

"No, I'm just stating the facts."

"Fine," Castle sighs. "Miss Answering Machine, can you please open the door?"

"What's the magic password?" Hannah asks, moving closer to the door, grabbing her purse and swinging it over her shoulder on the way.

"Ummm… Please?"

"Nope, you already said that."

"Abracadabra?"

"No."

"Bipity-bopity-boo?"

"Wrong." Hannah says with a lilt in her voice.

"Open sesame?"

Kate starts laughing and they can hear Alexis doing the same.

"Wrong again, Mr Castle. Kate assured me in the car that you're not as dumb as you look. I'm beginning to doubt her skills." Hannah teases.

"You really are a mini Beckett, aren't you?" He says.

"Keep guessing." Hannah says.

"I have coffee?" He tries, aiming for Beckett's attention.

It works.

"Yep, that'll do." Kate says, pushing past her sister to get to the door. Before she reaches the door, however, she encounters a determined Hannah who is not willing to give up her little game just yet.

Needless to say, there is a large amount of shoving, pushing, pulling, swinging bags, tickling, and squealing on their side of the door before it finally swings open, revealing two Castles and four Styrofoam coffee cups.

"Sorry about her. She can be a bit of a pain. Like someone else I know." Kate says looking pointedly at Castle as she walks out the door, with Hannah close behind her, and closes it.

**How was that?**

**I must say I stole Caitlyn's eye colour changing from mysterygirl97! And Hannah's eye colour changes are like mine ;)**

**All of the names of Hannah's friends are names of my friends (except Jake and the twins) and one of them's my name… Guess which one :) Hannah is also the name of one of my friends ;)**

**Review away, my dear readers!**

**Oh, by the way, I've been overwhelmed by the alerts and favourites this story has got, so thank you guys!**

**And I'm still trying to work out dinosaurs for Alexis, Lanie, Martha, Ryan and Espo, and any of your ideas are greatly appreciated! **

**Review away, my dear readers!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chap 13**

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own Castle. Or any of the regular characters but I do own Hannah ;)

* * *

**3rd Person POV**

"Ummm, Alexis and I are gonna go grab a drink. Be back in a minute!" Hannah exclaims and stands up, grabbing Alexis's wrist and the two girls quickly walk up the aisle to the back of the theatre where they sit in some seats three rows from the back… where they have a perfectly clear view of both the movie screen and the two adults who are supposed to be accompanying them, but seem more engrossed in each other than the movie or anyone else around them.

"They look so close. As in, going-out close." Alexis observes.

"You should've seen them last night and this morning. You know when your dad carried me to the car last night? Well, Kate kissed him!" Hannah whispers.

"What?" Alexis almost squeals.

"I mean, it was only on the cheek, but it's a start, right?"

"Yes! So what happened this morning?"

"Well, your dad brought some clothes over for me, and he came in and they did exactly what they're doing now. It was like I didn't even exist! They were so absorbed by each other that they didn't even notice when I went and got Kate's gun… Until I pressed it against his head. That definitely got their attention…"

"You put a gun to my dad's head?" Alexis asks.

"Don't worry. The safety was on."

After a few minutes of watching _The Avengers_ in silence, Alexis speaks up. "Do you think they'll notice we've actually gone?"

"I doubt it. I mean, they would've heard me and seen us stand up, I don't think it actually sunk in that we left."

"When are we going back?"

"At the end of the movie. I can guarantee that they won't realise how long we've been _not_ beside them til it ends."

"Oh. Yeah, actually, you're right."

* * *

**RC POV**

"You know, Kate, you're just like Black Widow." I say to her, nudging her with my elbow.

"Thanks. I'm glad I remind you of a Russian assassin."

"Turned spy. She's a Russian assassin turned spy. And she's an Avenger! The only lady Avenger! Come on Kate, you've gotta admit that's pretty cool."

"I never said it wasn't." She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, smirking. "Castle, I thought we came here to _watch the movie_. Not so you could stare at me in the dark and hope I wouldn't notice."

I shrug my shoulders but keep my eyes glued on her.

"That's not gonna work." She says, tipping her head in the direction of my open, upturned hand sitting on the armrest between us.

"What? I'm not doing anything. My hand is comfortable there." I say innocently.

"You wanna know where my hand would be comfortable?" She purrs, eying me from under her eyelashes, her head now completely facing mine.

I gulp quietly and look down at my pants. "I… uh… I…ummmm…"

I feel more than hear her start to laugh beside me.

"Th-that is so… mean!" I stutter.

"What was I supposed to do, Castle? You opened yourself right up!"

"You're still mean." I scowl at her, and notice that Hannah is no longer beside her, and Alexis is no longer in the seat she's supposed to be in beside Hannah. "Ummm, Kate. Where are the girls?"

"They're right…" She turns to the empty seats where they were sitting at the start of the movie. "Shit!" She exclaims, looking around frantically, and then sighs in relief. "Don't worry, they said they were going to get a drink."

"Oh, okay." I turn my attention back to the movie – for the time being.

I feel her small, warm hand slip on top of mine and her fingers slide gently between mine.

As her fingers slowly curl around my hand, I smile and whisper, "I thought you said it wouldn't work," and slightly tighten my own fingers around hers.

* * *

**3rd Person POV**

"Oh my God! Look! Look at their hands!" Alexis exclaims quietly, bringing Hannah's attention back from the movie she had become captured by.

"What?" Hannah asks, her head still thinking about Chris Hemsworth and _'Oh my god! So hot!'_

"Their hands! They're holding hands!" Alexis hisses, pointing forward to her father and Detective Beckett.

"What?" Hannah asks again, immediately snapping out of her Chris-Hemsworth-induced trance. She wriggles forward in her seat and leans sideways slightly, to try and get a better view.

Sure enough, she sees the two adults holding hands while they watch the movie.

"We are so good at this!" She exclaims, looking over at the older girl. "We should start up our own Match-Making company!"

* * *

**HB POV**

As the credits start rolling and the lights come back on dimly, Alexis and I quickly stand up and make our way back to our 'chaperones'.

"Where were you two?" Kate asks us, worry etched on her face.

"Well," I begin, "We went to get drinks and came back and forgot which row we were in, and it was dark so we couldn't see you guys so we just sat in some empty seats about two rows behind you, actually."

"Oh. Okay. Next time, when you leave, count how many rows are between us and the back."

"Okay. Sorry. We didn't mean to worry you." Alexis says calmly.

Alexis's words seem to calm Kate down immensely. Probably because she's older and _way_ more mature than me.

"So, can we get something to eat? I'm staaaaarving." Rick whines, stretching out the last word.

At least I'm more mature than him.

* * *

**KB POV**

As we sit down with our meals I raise an eyebrow at Castle's choice of food.

While Alexis has chosen a chicken burger, and Hannah and I both have a chicken wrap and some fries, Castle has ordered a Happy Meal.

A freaking Happy Meal!

I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, though. I mean, he _is_ the biggest man-child _ever_.

"What?" He asks, seeing my raised eyebrow. "Have you never seen a grown man eat a Happy Meal before?"

I shake my head. "No, and I still haven't."

He pokes his tongue out at me and I narrow my eyes back at him, the corner of my mouth tipped up in a smirk, egging him on.

"Smart fish don't bite." He says, looking away from me and out the window instead.

"Then it's a good thing you're not a smart fish." I say, winking at Hannah and Alexis on the other side of the table. I count in my head and hold up five fingers to them. Then four. Then three. Then two. Then…

"I am smart, thank you very much! I have twenty seven bestselling novels up my sleeve. How many do you have, Detective?" He challenges, whirling around to look at me.

He catches sight of my one lone finger in the air, the proof of my countdown to his retaliation, and his mouth drops open.

"I bit!" He exclaims.

"You most certainly did." I reply. "So, what do I win? A romantic evening with the famous Richard Castle? A tropical island getaway? A signed copy of all of your novels? A soda? A day in peace without you?"

"Well, if you like, you can have all of the first four. But not the last one."

I laugh at him and pat his arm. "That's okay Castle, I'll just take the soda."

"Don't you want a romantic evening with me?"

I close my eyes and pretend to think about it, and open my eyes saying, "No. Not really."

"What about a tropical island getaway?"

"Will it be a get away from you?"

"No." He scoffs. "If I'm paying, I'm coming."

"Can we come too?" Hannah pipes up cheekily and my head snaps back to the two teenagers, whom I had forgotten were there.

From the look on Castle's face and the hunger in his eyes, I'm pretty sure he had, too.

* * *

**KB POV**

As we walk together through Central Park, I can't help thinking that this is what it would be like to have a family with him. Except we'd probably be running, chasing min us-es before we lost them in amongst the trees, instead of walking in the, surprisingly, civilised manner we currently are.

As if reading my thoughts, Hannah darts forward and pokes Castle's shoulder, yelling "You're it!" before sprinting away.

Castle looks over at me, a smile spreading across his face. Over his shoulder I see Alexis running to a bunch of trees and shrubs – in a completely different direction to Hannah – and I think maybe I thought too soon. By the looks of things, we will be running around searching for mini us-es today.

"No." I say firmly, but his smile continues growing and he takes a step towards me. "No, Castle. Don't you dare." I warn him just as he lunges at me.

I dart out of the way and he stumbles as he plummets forward due to the lack of resistance he was intending to encounter. I laugh as he tries to regain his balance, but ends up over-correcting and falls face-first into the grass and leaves.

"You are no match for me, old man!" I tease before sprinting off in the direction that Alexis went.

"Did you just call me 'old man'?" I hear him shout. "Oh, you'll pay for that one, Beckett!"

* * *

**There we have it! I decided this chapter would be a bit more one-on-one between the characters (other than Hannah and Kate who get lots of one-on-one with each other).**

**So, how was it? Did you like the way Beckett and Castle, Hannah and Alexis, and the three women interacted?**

**Oh, and I finally took a few people's advice and tried to make who's POV it is more distinct ;)  
**

**Reviews make my day! They make me happy and add a bit of excitement to my otherwise monotonous daily life ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chap 14**_

**I am soooooo sorry with how long it took me to update this! I just haven't been able to get into the right headspace to write this particular story (in case you haven't noticed I have posted a few new stories in the past week). **

**The long awaited dinosaur conversation is finally here! Hope its okay! Sorry to those of you that I pestered asking for dino ideas ;)**

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own Castle. You already knew that though, didn't you?

* * *

**RC**

"So, Dad," Alexis says to me, from her position lying opposite me on the other side of the Scrabble board.

"Yes, my darling daughter?"

"Well, you know how it's your fortieth this year?"

"Argh! Don't remind me!" I hear Beckett begin to giggle from her side of the board, but ignore her.

"Well, don't make any plans. You're not allowed to organise a party of any description." Alexis says.

"Why not?" I ask nervously.

"Because Hannah and I are going to organise a party for you. Well, two actually. On the actual night of your birthday we're planning one for just us, the boys, Lanie, Jim and Grams. And then on the Saturday night we're doing a big one. Think, the whole homicide floor, Patterson and co, actors, singers… Any CIA agents we can get our hands on."

"You – my very grounded daughter – want to organise a party and invite celebrities?"

"It is a party for you." She says, smiling sweetly at me.

"Was this your idea?" I ask, turning to look at Hannah.

"No, actually, it was not. I'm offended you would even think that!" She says, aghast but mocking.

"So, it was your idea?" I ask, turning my head back to Alexis.

"No, it was Santa's idea." She says sarcastically.

"What is this? They've brainwashed you! You're turning into one of them!" I exclaim.

"One of what?" She asks, confused.

"A _Beckett_." I say the name with distaste and get a sharp jab in the arm from the woman sitting cross-legged on my right hand side, and a punch to the side of my stomach from the girl lying on my left.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kate says.

"Weren't you a rebel teenager?" I ask, raising my eyebrow at her.

"Ooooh, you were? Why didn't I know about this?" Hannah asks excitedly.

"Ummmm, probably because we didn't know each before yesterday." Kate says.

"Huh. Good point." Hannah says, thinking about it and nodding her head in acknowledgement of her sister's reasoning.

"Dad!" Alexis clicks her fingers in front of my face. "It's your turn."

"Oh yeah. Right." I look down at my letters and grimace. They really aren't very good: R, H, P, A G, H, X, R. _Fantastic_. It's a good thing I'm an imaginative writer. I grin as an idea comes to mind and I place 6 of my letters beside an A that Kate put down, to spell AARRGHH.

"No. There is _no way_ that's a word." Kate says.

"It is so!" I exclaim.

"I'm pretty sure it's not." Alexis says, agreeing with Kate.

All eyes immediately turn to Hannah to get her opinion, as she will no doubt have one.

"What?" Hannah says. "I don't think I know anyone enough to take sides. I'm Switzerland!"

"I took your side over his this morning!" Kate exclaims. "You're my sister! You have to take my side!"

"Okay, I'm on his side." Hannah says, pointing a finger in my direction and I watch as the two sisters stare each other down, both daring the other to blink.

I stand up abruptly. "I can settle this!" I exclaim and work towards my office.

"Here we go." I hear Alexis grumble as she realises what I'm getting.

I walk to my desk and pull the large book out of the drawer, before going back to the others in the lounge room and dropping the book on the ground with a loud _thud_ before sitting down.

"Really Castle? You have the Scrabble Dictionary?" Kate asks, looking at me.

"No, I have the _Official_ Scrabble _Players_ Dictionary." I say. "Now we can see who's right."

I start flipping the pages and Hannah leans over and whispers in my ear, "I'm glad I chose your side. You know that it's in there, don't you?"

I smirk at her and nod my head slightly and Hannah smirks back at me before looking across the board and smirking at Kate.

"You're a little backstabber, aren't you?" Kate says to Hannah.

Hannah shrugs and opens her mouth to answer, but I cut her off with an "Aha! Found it! Look!" I wriggle over to Kate and point at the word. "I told you it was a word!"

"You are such a pain." Kate says, shaking her head at me.

"Yeah, so? You knew that _ages_ ago."

"I know. I just didn't feel the need to voice that opinion until now."

"Oh, but you have, my dear detective. So many times. 'Castle stop being a jackass!', 'Castle, you're annoying me!', 'Castle, you're a creep!', 'Castle, go away!', 'Castle…'"

* * *

**HB**

"So, you know how earlier you asked me what sort of dinosaur you'd be?" I ask Kate as we enter her apartment and immediately both head towards the couch.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it all day, and I've figured out what you are, along with Rick, Alexis, Martha, Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie."

"Really?" She asks, looking over at me, slight curiosity hidden in the depths of her eyes.

"Yes."

"So, what have you come up with?"

"Well, I decided that Rick would be a baby T-Rex or some other carnivore…"

"Why?"

"I'm getting there! Jeez! Someone has patience issues! Anyways, he'd be a baby carnivore because he thinks he's all dangerous and badass, but really he needs everyone else to protect him or he'd be dead."

Kate starts laughing at that, almost hysterically. "You're a genius!" She laughs.

"Yes I know. So he's either that, or a brontosaurus." Kate looks at me, raising an eyebrow as she waits for an explanation. "Brontosaurus' are large herbivores. Not interested in killing at all, but if you annoy them, they get really dangerous, cos they're so big and all. Basically it's the dinosaur version of… um… a teddy bear? Generally harmless, pretty smart, very protective, get's aggressive if threatened."

"Ohhh… I see. I think they're both him. They're different aspects of him." Kate says, nodding her head. "You're a pretty smart kid."

"Thank you. Do you wanna hear what I came up with for the others?"

"Sure."

"Okay. So, I already said Captain Gates is a T-Rex. I think Alexis would be a triceratops. Again, another herbivore, which is very smart, protective, and people think it may have been as strong as, if not stronger than, the T-Rex. I was moreso thinking that if she needed to be, Alexis could be mentally stronger than our personal T-Rex, dear Captain Gates."

"Okay, yeah, I see how that works, but aren't triceratops' big?"

"Yes. But a baby T-Rex is small, and we both agreed that was still Rick."

"Fair enough. Keep going; this is kinda interesting."

I smile happily at her. "Okay, so… Ryan would either be a pterodactyl or a stegosaurus. He would be a pterodactyl cos he's relatively harmless unless annoyed, or someone he cares for is threatened, and he watches over everyone from above, and he would be a stegosaurus cos that's another sweet, harmless herbivore, that again is awfully protective and can turn aggressive if a member of its herd is in danger. Ummm… Esposito… He could also be a pterodactyl, but for a different reason. He's a pterodactyl because he's a bird of prey, watching over everything, thinking things through, getting the best angle, before he swoops. Or he could also be an Allosaurus because they're really dangerous, especially when they hunt in packs, which they did to take down dinosaurs which were way bigger than themselves. Lanie would be an ornithomimus because she's small, feisty and quick, but instead of literally quick, Lanie's quick with her tongue."

"And you can work all this out after having known them for what, a day?"

"Two, actually." I correct

"Yeah, but you didn't see any of them at all today."

I roll my eyes at her. "I have good character judgement. You know how, during your first case, Rick could tell that something had happened to someone very close to you, and that had made you want to become a cop?"

"How did you know that?" She whispers at me.

"He told me last night on our walk back to his loft after I decided to go for my little run. Anyway, I was saying that how he worked all of that out after having known you for an hour, I can work out what sort of a person someone is – their personality, their character traits, their relationships – by having a ten minute conversation with them."

"How do you do that?"

"I don't really know. I've just… I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember. Comes in handy, when a new family shows up to foster me out."

"Yeah. It would. Sooo…What dinosaur would I be?"

I laugh at her. "I'm getting there. I'm saving yours til last. I still have Martha to do. Okay, so Martha could also be a metaphorical pterodactyl, in that she has sky high dreams. For her, the sky's the limit. I wish I could find something better for her, something more literal, but I've been wracking my brains all day and haven't come up with anything else." I sigh, slightly frustrated.

"Well there wasn't exactly a melodramatic, diva dinosaur was there?" She asks, trying to soothe me.

"No, I guess not."

"So," She says after a minute or two of silence. "Can you tell me what I would be?"

I look up at her and roll my eyes. "Okay then. Kate, I've decided you would be a Velocoraptor. Clearly, they're a raptor. Basically, they are really, really fast and athletic, really dangerous, smart, tactical, sneaky, not scared to take on a dinosaur bigger than themselves, and super protective of their families. But that could be slightly _too_ aggressive for you, cos Velocoraptors are pretty mean."

"And what about you? What dinosaur would you be?"

I shrug my shoulders and look down at my knees. "I dunno." I mumble, wringing my hands.

"Well, do the same as what you did for the rest of us. Think about all of your characteristics and place yourself with the one you're most like."

"I know how to do it. I just _can't_."

"Why not?" She asks, her tilting with the question.

I sigh. "Because I don't know myself well enough to be able to categorise like that."

* * *

**So… What do you think?**

**Hope it was kinda what you were hoping for…**

**Anyways, it's my school social this Thursday and I am in love with my dress!**

**Pre warning you, I may or may not get another chapter up later in the week.**

**Does anyone have any inspirational Castle quotes? Eg. "Everyone needs a fairytale." Beckett (Once Upon A Crime), "Life should be an adventure." Castle (A Flower For Your Grave), etc.  
**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chap 15**_

**Oh my God! I'm sorry it took me so long to update!**

**Everything got really crazy after my social: I was writing a party scene and an afterparty scene for my friend's One Direction fanfiction, my school band/orchestra was rehearsing like crazy cos we were flying over to Brisbane to compete, and then all of last week we were in Brisbane competing! So I've had a pretty hectic month! Anyways, sorry again for the delay!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Castle_ or any known _Castle_ characters at all, but Hannah's mine.

* * *

**HB**

"So, what are we doing today?" I ask Alexis as we walk down the street.

She pulls a plastic card out of her pocket and waves it in front of my face. "Dad leant me his credit card for the day. I thought we could go shopping. Get some things for his party, buy some clothes, buy ice-cream, watch a movie. Whatever you want to do, really."

I smirk at her. "How about we buy ourselves, not only a new wardrobe, but a completely new look?"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. Let's go have some fun." I say and pull her into the tattoo artist and body piercing shop.

* * *

**RC**

"So, my daughter and your sister – both of whom are teenage girls – are organising my entire birthday party! Guest list, decorations, entertainment, food, drinks, playlist… The whole lot!" I exclaim to Kate as we leave the break room.

"So? Chill out. I'm sure they'll do everything perfectly."

"You didn't listen to what I said. They are teenage girls, organising a grown man's…" She raises her eyebrows at me and opens her mouth. "Don't say anything." I warn her. "Organising a grown man's whole birthday party, including the music!"

"I still don't see where the problem is."

"They'll play freaking Taylor Swift and those gay British guys!"

"One Direction?"

"Yeah, them!"

"You know, they're actually not that bad. They all have good voices."

My mouth drops open in horror. "What have they done to you? They've brainwashed you! The last time we discussed music, you said One Direction were overrated British guys who were either girls in disguise or hadn't yet hit puberty!"

"I changed my mind. So what? Come on Castle, calm down. It's your daughter organising it, remember? She'll know to put some old people's music on." She smirks at me.

I glare at her. "Haha, you're hilarious."

Her smirk changes to a softer smile. "Seriously though, she'll put some Queen or The Beatles on or something."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's _Alexis_. Yes, Hannah is helping too, but she's not the only one organising it. There is _one_ sensible person there."

"I suppose." I sigh.

"Relax Castle." She wraps her fingers around my arm and gives it a gentle squeeze, "Everything will be fine."

Just at that moment the elevator door opens and we turn to see Hannah walking out of it, wearing some… _interesting_ things.

My jaw drops open as I see the streaks of purple, blue, green, and red in her blonde curls, the thick makeup, the dark eyeliner, the hoop in her nose, the line of hoops on her right ear, the scorpion in her bellybutton, and the fact that I can actually _see_ her bellybutton. She's wearing what is possibly _the_ shortest denim skirt I have ever seen, and a sparkly crop-top that barely covers her chest.

"Hey guys. How's life? Got any new cases?" Hannah asks casually as she stops in front of us.

"Uhhhh… No. No new cases. We've had a pretty boring morning, just doing paperwork." Kate says, finally managing to get some words out of her mouth. She grabs me by the ear and pulls me out of Hannah's hearing range, before poking y chest really hard. "This is your fault!" She hisses, poking me again.

"My fault? How is this my fault?"

"You told her last night that I was rebel teenager! Now she wants to be a rebel too!"

"Something wrong?" Hannah's voice comes from directly behind Kate and we both jump, startled by her silent appearance.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Kate says, turning to look at her sister.

"That's good. Anyways, Alexis and I had a great morning!"

"Where is Alexis?" I ask uncertainly, as there is only one girl standing in front of us, but there should be two.

"Oh she was getting another tattoo at the place down the road. I got one, but she wanted three. She got one on her ankle and one on her shoulderblade, and I think she wanted the other one on her hip…"

The elevator again opens and in walks Alexis with _black_ hair with pink streaks! The only thing that actually proves it's Alexis is the blue eyes and pale skin. She, like Hannah, has a ring in her nose and multiple in her ear. However, she's not wearing a skirt like Hannah; instead, she's wearing denim shorts that could be classified as undergarments. She's also wearing a white short sleeved button down shirt, tied in a knot at the middle to reveal her flat, white stomach, over a red bra, which is clearly visible. I immediately see the tattoo on her ankle. It looks like a black rose.

"Look at this!" Alexis exclaims excitedly when she is standing beside Hannah. The girls turn around together and push their hair off their shoulders. On Alexis's right shoulderblade is Yin and on Hannah's left shoulderblade is Yang.

"You guys got… matching… tattoos." I say shakily.

"Yep! Wanna see my other one?" Alexis asks and pushes one side of her shorts down slightly to reveal some words on her hip.

_Live fast, have fun, be a bit mischievous_

"You got that… tattooed on you…"

* * *

**HB**

I smirk at Alexis as we watch Rick's reaction to our… makeovers.

Unfortunately, Kate catches my smirk and her mouth drops open.

"I need to talk to you." She says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to the breakroom.

She shuts the door and stares at me. "This is all fake, isn't it?"

"Never." I scoff and she raises an eyebrow at me. "Fine. Yes it is. Rick gave Alexis his credit card this morning and we thought we'd have some fun."

She walks over to me and examines the line of earrings in my ear, before unclipping one. "They're clip on earrings!" She laughs, shaking her head.

"Yep. And the tattoos are spray-on. They'll wash off in about a month."

"What about the hair and _that_?" She asks, pointing at my belly-button ring.

"The hair will wash out in a week. Alexis's is just a wig. And the bellybutton ring is real." I say quietly.

"WHAT?"

"I got it ages ago." I say. "When I was in one of my rebellious moods and wanted the family I was with to send me back to the home. I mean, I got the scorpion today, but I got it pierced about six months ago."

"But… How did I not see it the other day when I came in to give you the towels?"

"I'd taken it out before I came to find you. I put it back in when we were at the home." I say slowly.

She sighs in relief and shakes her head at me. "You're one naughty kid, you know that?"

"I have been told that a few times, yes. But from what I've heard, you were _really_ bad…" I trail off.

"What? Who have you been talking to?" She asks, getting flustered at the thought that I know about her past.

I hadn't actually spoken to anyone about her being a rebel teenager. I mean, when had I had the time? But she didn't need to know that. "I'm not telling. They made me promise that I wouldn't tell you who they were."

"Hannah." She warns me.

"I think I should probably go and stop Rick from having a heart attack." I say, before opening the breakroom door and leaving Kate in the middle of the room.

* * *

**How was that? **

**I hope it kinda made up for the lateness of it.**

**Anyways, I could really see Hannah doing something like that as a prank!**

**Hope it was ok! Feel free to review and tell me what you think! :)**


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